The Fabales are an order of flowering plants included in the rosid group of the eudicots in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II classification system. In the APG II circumscription, this order includes the families Fabaceae or legumes, Quillajaceae, Polygalaceae or milkworts, and Surianaceae. Under the Cronquist system and some other plant classification systems, the order Fabales contains only the family Fabaceae. In the classification system of Dahlgren the Fabales were in the superorder Fabiflorae with three families corresponding to the subfamilies of Fabaceae in APG II. The other families treated in the Fabales by the APG II classification were placed in separate orders by Cronquist, the Polygalaceae within its own order, the Polygalales, and the Quillajaceae and Surianaceae within the Rosales.
Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs in the order Sapindales.
The Casuarinaceae are a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of four genera and 91 species of trees and shrubs native to eastern Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, Malesia, Papuasia, and the Pacific Islands. At one time, all species were placed in the genus Casuarina. Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson separated out many of those species and renamed them into the new genera of Gymnostoma in 1980 and 1982, Allocasuarina in 1982, and Ceuthostoma in 1988, with some additional formal descriptions of new species in each other genus. At the time, it was somewhat controversial. The monophyly of these genera was later supported in a 2003 genetics study of the family. In the Wettstein system, this family was the only one placed in the order Verticillatae. Likewise, in the Engler, Cronquist, and Kubitzki systems, the Casuarinaceae were the only family placed in the order Casuarinales.
The Ulmaceae are a family of flowering plants that includes the elms, and the zelkovas. Members of the family are widely distributed throughout the north temperate zone, and have a scattered distribution elsewhere except for Australasia.
Saponins, also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed but found particularly in soapwort, a flowering plant, the soapbark tree and soybeans. They are used in soaps, medicines, fire extinguishers, speciously as dietary supplements, for synthesis of steroids, and in carbonated beverages. Structurally, they are glycosides, sugars bonded to another organic molecule, usually a steroid or triterpene, a steroid building block. Saponins are both water and fat soluble, which gives them their useful soap properties. Some examples of these chemicals are glycyrrhizin and quillaia, a bark extract used in beverages.
Alstroemeriaceae is a family of flowering plants, with 254 known species in four genera, almost entirely native to the Americas, from Central America to southern South America. One species of Luzuriaga occurs in New Zealand, and the genus Drymophila is endemic to south-eastern Australia.
The Crypteroniaceae are a family of flowering trees and shrubs. The family includes 13 species in three genera, native to Indomalaya.
QS-21 is a purified plant extract used as a vaccine adjuvant. It is derived from the soap bark tree, which is native to the countries of Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. The crude drug is imported from Peru and Chile.
Saponaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native to Asia and Europe, and are commonly known as soapworts. They are herbaceous perennials and annuals, some with woody bases. The flowers are abundant, five-petalled and usually in shades of pink or white. The genus is closely related to Lychnis and Silene, being distinguished from these by having only two styles in the flower. It is also related to Gypsophila, but its calyx is cylindrical rather than bell-shaped.
Quillaja saponaria, the soap bark tree or soapbark, is an evergreen tree in the family Quillajaceae, native to warm temperate central Chile. In Chile it occurs from 32 to 40° South Latitude approximately and at up to 2000 m (6500 ft) above sea level. It can grow to 15–20 m (50–65 ft) in height. The tree has thick, dark bark; smooth, leathery, shiny, oval evergreen leaves 3–5 cm long; white star-shaped flowers 15 mm diameter borne in dense corymbs; and a dry fruit with five follicles each containing 10–20 seeds.
The Myricaceae are a small family of dicotyledonous shrubs and small trees in the order Fagales. There are three genera in the family, although some botanists separate many species from Myrica into a fourth genus Morella. About 55 species are usually accepted in Myrica, one in Canacomyrica, and one in Comptonia.
The Berberidaceae are a family of 18 genera of flowering plants commonly called the barberry family. This family is in the order Ranunculales. The family contains about 700 known species, of which the majority are in Berberis. The species include trees, shrubs and perennial herbaceous plants.
Lardizabalaceae is a family of flowering plants.
Euptelea is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the monogeneric family Eupteleaceae. The genus is found from Assam east through China to Japan, and consists of shrubs or small trees:
Pandanaceae is a family of flowering plants native to the tropics and subtropics of the Old World, from West Africa through the Pacific. It contains 982 known species in five genera, of which the type genus, Pandanus, is the most important, with species like Pandanus amaryllifolius and karuka being important sources of food. The family likely originated during the Late Cretaceous.
Staphyleaceae is a small family of flowering plants in the order Crossosomatales, native to Europe, temperate and tropical Asia and the Americas. The largest genus Staphylea, which gives the family its name, contains the "bladdernut" trees. The family includes three genera with more than 40 known species.
Quillajaceae is a family of flowering plants. It contains only two extant species, Quillaja brasiliensis and Quillaja saponaria, and one fossil species, Dakotanthus cordiformis.
The Surianaceae are a family of plants in the order Fabales with five genera and eight known species. It has an unusual distribution: the genus Recchia is native to Mexico, and the sole member of Suriana, S. maritima, is a coastal plant with a pantropical distribution; and the remaining three genera are endemic to Australia.
Stachyurus is the only genus in the flowering plant family Stachyuraceae, native to the Himalayas and eastern Asia. They are deciduous shrubs or small trees with pendent racemes of 4-petalled flowers which appear on the bare branches before the leaves. The plants have leaves with serrate margins.
Kewa is a genus of flowering plants, consisting of eight species of succulent sub-woody plants, native to eastern and southern Africa, including Saint Helena and Madagascar. These are small shrubs or herbs that form cushions and have edible, acid-tasting leaves. Kewa is the only genus in the family Kewaceae.
