The Alismatales (alismatids) are an order of flowering plants including about 4,500 species. Plants assigned to this order are mostly tropical or aquatic. Some grow in fresh water, some in marine habitats. Perhaps the most important food crop in the order is the corm of the taro plant, Colocasia esculenta.
Commelinales is an order of flowering plants. It comprises five families: Commelinaceae, Haemodoraceae, Hanguanaceae, Philydraceae, and Pontederiaceae. All the families combined contain over 885 species in about 70 genera; the majority of species are in the Commelinaceae. Plants in the order share a number of synapomorphies that tie them together, such as a lack of mycorrhizal associations and tapetal raphides. Estimates differ as to when the Commelinales evolved, but most suggest an origin and diversification sometime during the mid- to late Cretaceous. Depending on the methods used, studies suggest a range of origin between 123 and 73 million years, with diversification occurring within the group 110 to 66 million years ago. The order's closest relatives are in the Zingiberales, which includes ginger, bananas, cardamom, and others.
Ceratophyllaceae is a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants including one living genus commonly found in ponds, marshes, and quiet streams in tropical and in temperate regions. It is the only extant family in the order Ceratophyllales. Species are commonly called coontails or hornworts, although hornwort is also used for unrelated plants of the division Anthocerotophyta.
Eichhornia, commonly called water hyacinths, was a polyphyletic genus of the aquatic flowering plants family Pontederiaceae. Since it was consistently recovered in three independent lineages, it has been sunk into Pontederia, together with Monochoria. Each of the three lineages is currently recognized as subgenera in Pontederia:
The Xyridaceae are a family of flowering plants. This family has been recognized by many taxonomists and is known as the yellow-eyed grass family.
Haemodoraceae is a family of perennial herbaceous flowering plants with 14 genera and 102 known species. It is sometimes known as the "bloodroot family". Primarily a Southern Hemisphere family, they are found in South Africa, Australia and New Guinea, and in the Americas. Perhaps the best known are the widely cultivated and unusual kangaroo paws from Australia, of the two closely related genera Anigozanthos and Macropidia.
Gelsemiaceae is a family of flowering plants, belonging to the order Gentianales. The family contains only three genera: Gelsemium, Mostuea and Pteleocarpa. Gelsemium has three species, one native to Southeast Asia and southern China and two native to Central America, Mexico, and the southeastern United States. The eight species of Mostuea are native to tropical areas of South America, Africa, and Madagascar. The two genera were formerly classified in the family Loganiaceae. Pteleocarpa was originally placed in Boraginaceae or in its own family Pteleocarpaceae, but it is most closely related to Gelsemiaceae with which it shares significant characters.
Nelumbonaceae is a family of aquatic flowering plants. Nelumbo is the sole extant genus, containing Nelumbo lutea, native to North America, and Nelumbo nucifera, widespread in Asia. At least five other genera, Nelumbites, Exnelumbites, Paleonelumbo, Nelumbago, and Notocyamus are known from fossils.
Saururaceae is a plant family comprising four genera and seven species of herbaceous flowering plants native to eastern and southern Asia and North America. The family has been recognised by most taxonomists, and is sometimes known as the "lizard's-tail family". The APG IV system assigned it to the order Piperales in the clade magnoliids.
Juncaginaceae is a family of flowering plants, recognized by most taxonomists for the past few decades. It is also known as the arrowgrass family. It includes 3 genera with a total of 34 known species.
Mayaca is a genus of flowering plants, often placed in its own family, the Mayacaceae. In the APG II system of 2003, it is assigned to the order Poales in the clade commelinids. The Cronquist system, of 1981, also recognised such a family and placed it in the order Commelinales in the subclass Commelinidae.
The Cabombaceae are a family of aquatic, herbaceous flowering plants. A common name for its species is water shield. The family is recognised as distinct in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group IV system (2016). The family consists of two genera of aquatic plants, Brasenia and Cabomba, totalling six species.
In plant taxonomy, commelinids is a clade of flowering plants within the monocots, distinguished by having cell walls containing ferulic acid.
The Rapateaceae are a family of flowering plants. The botanical name has been recognized by most taxonomists.
Philesiaceae is a family of flowering plants, including two genera, each with a single species. The members of the family are woody shrubs or vines endemic to southern Chile.
Hanguana is a genus of flowering plants with a dozen known species. It is the only genus in the family Hanguanaceae.
Philydraceae is a family of flowering plants composed of three genera and a total of six known species. Such a family has not been recognized by many taxonomists.
Tecophilaeaceae is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. It consists of nine genera with a total of 27 species.
The Caricaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Brassicales, found primarily in tropical regions of Central and South America and Africa. They are usually short-lived evergreen pachycaul shrubs or small to medium-sized trees growing to 5–10 m tall. One species, Vasconcellea horovitziana is a liana and the three species of the genus Jarilla are herbs. Some species, such as the papaya, bear edible fruit and produce papain.
Monochoria was originally a genus of aquatic plants in the water hyacinth family, Pontederiaceae. Currently, it has been reduced to a subgenus of Pontederia, Pontederia subg. Monochoria, represented by ten species. Its species are native to tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia, and Oceania. They live in the water or in wet soils. They produce leaves on long petioles and some are cultivated for their attractive flowers. Plants from this species have been utilized in the creation of traditional herbal treatments, food, and cosmetics for a very long time.
