Hippocastanoideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.[1] The group was formerly treated as the separate families Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae. Molecular phylogenetic research by Harrington et al. (2005)[2] has shown that while both the Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae are monophyletic in themselves, their removal from the Sapindaceae sensu lato would leave Sapindaceae sensu stricto as a paraphyletic group, particularly with reference to the genus Xanthoceras.
The most widespread genera are Acer (the maples) and Aesculus (the horse chestnuts and buckeyes). A feature of the subfamily is the palmate compound leaves.[3]
^Harrington, M. G., Edwards, K. J., Johnson, S. A., Chase, M. W., & Gadek, P. A. (2005). Phylogenetic inference in Sapindaceae sensu lato using plastid matK and rbcL DNA sequences. Systematic Botany 30: 366-382. Abstract.
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