INTRODUCTION

The tribe Millettieae comprises over 40 genera and nearly 1,000 species, and consists of three main groups and some small genera laid between the groups (Geesink, 1984). The three groups are dominated by the genera Tephrosia (400spp.), Millettia (200spp.), and Lonchocarpus (plus Derris; 200spp.), respectively. They are almost all pantropically distributed, and only Wisteria and Millettia japonica are presented in Paleotemperate regions. The phylogeny of the tribe is poorly resolved (Geesink, 1984; Polhill, 1995), but it is believed Millettieae is at the critical position on the radiation of a large portion of the subfamily Papilionoideae (Polhill, 1981), i.e. Lonchocarpus and allies are related to Dalbergieae, Tephrosia and allies are related to Robineae, Millettia and allies are closer to Galegeae and Phaseoleae. The schematic phylogeny of these groups based on our prelimary data are shown on the diagram below.