The Ericales are a large and diverse order of dicotyledons. Species in this order have considerable commercial importance including for tea, persimmon, blueberry, kiwifruit, Brazil nuts, argan, and azalea. The order includes trees, bushes, lianas, and herbaceous plants. Together with ordinary autophytic plants, the Ericales include chlorophyll-deficient mycoheterotrophic plants and carnivorous plants.
The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acid 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 Actinidiaceae are a small family of flowering plants. The family has three genera and about 360 species and is a member of the order Ericales.
Cornaceae is a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants in the order Cornales. It 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.
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.
Gunneraceae is a family of flowering plants, closely related to Myrothamnaceae, together forming the order Gunnerales. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists. Gunneraceae consists of the single genus Gunnera with 63 known species.
The Oxalidaceae, or wood sorrel family, are a small family of five genera of herbaceous plants, shrubs and small trees, with the great majority of the 570 species in the genus Oxalis. Members of this family typically have divided leaves, the leaflets showing "sleep movements", spreading open in light and closing in darkness.
Basellaceae is a family of flowering plants, in the order Caryophyllales in the clade core eudicots, according to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. The family comprises ca 19 known species of herbaceous plants, some with climbing habits, in four genera:
The Calycanthaceae are a small family of flowering plants in the order Laurales. The family contains three genera and only 10 known species, restricted to warm temperate and tropical regions:
Dichapetalaceae is a family of flowering plants, consisting of 3 genera and about 170 species. Members of this family are trees, shrubs or lianas found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.
Erythroxylaceae is a family of flowering trees and shrubs consisting of 4 genera and 271 species. The four genera are AneulophusBenth., ErythroxylumP.Browne, NectaropetalumEngl., and PinacopodiumExell & Mendonça. The best-known species are the coca plants, including the species Erythroxylum coca, the source of the drug cocaine.
Humiriaceae is a family of evergreen flowering plants. It comprises 8 genera and 56 known species. The family is exclusively Neotropical, except one species found in tropical West Africa.
Myrothamnus is a genus of flowering plants, consisting of two species of small xerophytic shrubs, in the southern parts of tropical Africa and in Madagascar. Myrothamnus is recognized as the only genus in the family Myrothamnaceae.
Dasypogonaceae is a family of flowering plants, one that has not been commonly recognized by taxonomists; the plants it contains were usually included in the family Xanthorrhoeaceae. If valid, Dasypogonaceae includes four genera with 16 species.
The Cyrillaceae are a small family of flowering plants in the order Ericales, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas. The family comprises two genera, Cliftonia and Cyrilla, each containing a single species, Cliftonia monophylla and Cyrilla racemiflora. However, additional species of Cyrilla are now often recognized and the genus is in need of taxonomic revision.
Purdiaea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Clethraceae described as a genus in 1846. It is one of two genera in this family, and was formerly classified in the related family Cyrillaceae. Purdiaea is native to tropical regions of the Caribbean, Central America and northern South America, further south than the related genus Clethra, the only other genus of this family.
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.
Hydrostachys is a genus of about 22 species of flowering plants native to Madagascar and southern and central Africa. It is the only genus in the family Hydrostachyaceae. All species of Hydrostachys are aquatic, growing on rocks in fast-moving water. They have tuberous roots, usually pinnately compound leaves, and highly reduced flowers on dense spikes.
Huaceae is a family of plant in the rosids group, which has been classed in the orders Malpighiales, Malvales, and Violales or in its own order Huales. The APG II system placed it in the clade eurosids I, whereas the APG III system of 2009 and APG IV (2016) place it within the Oxalidales. The family is endemic to central Africa. It contains four species in the following two genera:
Calophyllaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales and is recognized by the APG III system of classification. Most of the 14 genera and 475 species included in this family were previously recognized in the tribe Calophylleae of the family Clusiaceae. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group determined that splitting this clade of genera off into their own family was necessary.
