Sweetia

Sweetia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Clade: Vataireoids
Genus: Sweetia
Spreng. (1825), nom. cons.
Species:
S. fruticosa
Binomial name
Sweetia fruticosa
Spreng. (1825)
Varieties
  • var. fruticosa Spreng.
  • var. hassleri Yakovlev
  • var. paraguariensis (Hassl.) Yakovlev
Synonyms
  • Ferreirea Alemão
  • Acosmium lentiscifolium Vogel (1837), sensu auct.
  • Ferreirea spectabilis Allemão (1845)
  • Ferreirea spectabilis f. fruticosa Chodat & Hassl. (1904)
  • Ferreirea spectabilis var. paraguariensis Hassl. (1904)
  • Sweetia fruticosa var. hassleri Yakovlev (1969)
  • Sweetia fruticosa var. paraguariensis (Hassl.) Yakovlev (1969)

Sweetia fruticosa is a species of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is a tree native to eastern, southern, and west-central Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina. It is the only member of the genus Sweetia (though some sources also include Sweetia atrata Mohlenbr.). It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. It was traditionally assigned to the tribe Sophoreae, mainly on the basis of flower morphology; recent molecular phylogenetic analyses assigned Sweetia fruticosa into an informal, monophyletic clade called the "vataireoids".