The Apiales are an order of flowering plants. The families are those recognized in the APG III system. This is typical of the newer classifications, though there is some slight variation and in particular, the Torriceliaceae may also be divided.
The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c. 4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it the 14th most species-rich family of flowering plants. The many well known and economically important members of the Ericaceae include the cranberry, blueberry, huckleberry, rhododendron, and various common heaths and heathers.
The Cornales are an order of flowering plants, early diverging among the asterids, containing about 600 species. Plants within the Cornales usually have four-parted flowers, drupaceous fruits, and inferior to half-inferior gynoecia topped with disc-shaped nectaries.
The Cornaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants in the order Cornales. The family contains approximately 85 species in two genera, Alangium and Cornus. They are mostly trees and shrubs, which may be deciduous or evergreen, although a few species are perennial herbs. Members of the family usually have opposite or alternate simple leaves, four- or five-parted flowers clustered in inflorescences or pseudanthia, and drupaceous fruits. The family is primarily distributed in northern temperate regions and tropical Asia. In northern temperate areas, Cornaceae are well known from the dogwoods Cornus.
The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely, but it is predominantly distinguishable based on its woody habit, tropical distribution, and the presence of simple umbels.
The Piperaceae, also known as the pepper family, are a large family of flowering plants. The group contains roughly 3,600 currently accepted species in 5 genera. The vast majority of species can be found within the two main genera: Piper and Peperomia.
Violaceae is a family of flowering plants established in 1802, consisting of about 1000 species in about 25 genera. It takes its name from the genus Viola, the violets and pansies.
Xylosma is a genus of flowering plants in the family Salicaceae. It contains around 100 species of evergreen shrubs and trees commonly known as brushhollies, xylosmas, or, more ambiguously, "logwoods". The generic name is derived from the Greek words ξύλον (xylon), meaning "wood," and ὀσμή (osmé), meaning "smell," referring to the fragrant wood of some of the species. The Takhtajan system places it in the family Flacourtiaceae, which is considered defunct by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group.
Winteraceae is a primitive family of tropical trees and shrubs including 93 species in five genera. It is of particular interest because it is such a primitive angiosperm family, distantly related to Magnoliaceae, though it has a much more southern distribution. Plants in this family grow mostly in the southern hemisphere, and have been found in tropical to temperate climate regions of Malesia, Oceania, eastern Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar and the Neotropics, with most of the genera concentrated in Australasia and Malesia. The five genera, Takhtajania, Tasmannia, Drimys, Pseudowintera, and Zygogynum s.l. all have distinct geographic extant populations. Takhtajania includes a single species, T. perrieri, endemic only to Madagascar, Tasmannia has the largest distribution of genera in Winteraceae with species across the Philippines, Borneo, New Guinea, Eastern Australia, and Tasmannia, Drimys is found in the Neotropical realm, from southern Mexico to the subarctic forests of southern South America, Pseudowintera is found only in New Zealand, and Zygogynum has species in New Guinea and New Caledonia.
The Canellaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Canellales. The order includes only one other family, the Winteraceae. Canellaceae is native to the Afrotropical and Neotropical realms. They are small to medium trees, rarely shrubs, evergreen and aromatic. The flowers and fruit are often red.
Griselinia littoralis, commonly known as kapuka, New Zealand broadleaf or pāpāuma, is a fast-growing small to medium-sized evergreen tree that is native to New Zealand.
The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Myrtales. The family includes about 530 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in ca 10 genera. The family includes the leadwood tree, Combretum imberbe. Three genera, Conocarpus, Laguncularia, and Lumnitzera, grow in mangrove habitats (mangals). The Combretaceae are widespread in the subtropics and tropics. Some members of this family produce useful construction timber, such as idigbo from Terminalia ivorensis. The commonly cultivated Quisqualis indica is now placed in the genus Combretum. Many plants in the Quisqualis species contain the Non-proteinogenic amino acid excitotoxin Quisqualic acid, a potent AMPA agonist.
Turneraceae Kunth ex DC. is a family of flowering plants consisting of 120 species in 10 genera. The Cronquist system placed the Turneracids in the order Violales, but it is not currently recognized as a family by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group in the APG III system of 2009, which includes the taxa in the Turneraceae in Passifloraceae as a subfamily (Turneroideae).
Garryaceae is a small family of plants known commonly as the silktassels. It contains two genera:
Adoxaceae, commonly known as moschatel family, is a small family of flowering plants in the order Dipsacales, now consisting of five genera and about 150–200 species. They are characterised by opposite toothed leaves, small five- or, more rarely, four-petalled flowers in cymose inflorescences, and the fruit being a drupe. They are thus similar to many Cornaceae.
Phelline is a genus of shrubs and the sole member of the family Phellinaceae, a family of flowering plants endemic to New Caledonia. It is placed in the order Asterales and is related to two other small plant families: Alseuosmiaceae and Argophyllaceae. It contains ten species.
Melanophylla is a genus of flowering plants endemic to Madagascar. The genus contains seven species of small trees and shrubs.
Pennantia is the sole genus in the plant family Pennantiaceae. In older classifications, it was placed in the family Icacinaceae. Most authorities have recognised three or four species, depending on whether they recognised Pennantia baylisiana as a separate species from Pennantia endlicheri. British-born botanist David Mabberley has recognised two species.
Aralidium is a genus in the plant family Torricelliaceae. It includes the single species Aralidium pinnatifidum, a small tree or shrub distributed in southeastern Asia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
The Torricelliaceae are a family of trees native to Madagascar and southwest Asia. It contains three genera, Aralidium, Melanophylla and Torricellia. Under the APG II system, each of these genera was placed in its own family, but with the proviso that "Some of the families are monogeneric and could possibly be merged when well-supported sister-group relationships have been established." Such a relationship was established for these three genera in 2004. In the APG III system, these three genera constitute the family Torricelliaceae.
