Abstract:Leaves of 134 species or infraspecific taxa,representing almost all series or subsections of thefive genera of the tribe Cercideae:Cercis,Adenolobus,Griffonea,Brenierea and Bauhinia,have beenstudied.Twenty venation types have been described.In the tribe,Adenolobus and Brenierea have very similar venation patterns.Cercis species alsohave their own characteristics.Venation of Griffonea leaf is very specialized and characteristic,while Bauhinia is very diverse in venation patterns.In the genus Bauhinia, both subgenera Bauhinia and Phanera are very diverse in aspects of leaf venation, while venation types of the two sections of Subgen. Elayuna are very similar.Theleaf venation of B.syringifolia, the only species of Subgen. Barklya, is one of the best developedvenation types and is very similar to that of Subgen. Elayuna type.The venation characters support the distinction,if not necessary being monophylies,if Ser.Cansenia,Ser.Acuminatae,Ser.Purpureae,Subsect.Viridescentes,Subsect. Tacemosae,Subgen.Elayuna,Ser.Corymbosae,Ser.Chloroxantheae,Ser.Clavatae,Sect.Palmatifolia,and Sect.Tubicalys.Like other morphological or palynological characters,leaf venational characters can be a source of inrormation for systeratics,but it can only be used in systematics together with datafrom other aspects.