Some Realignments in the Angiospermae

Abstract

The system of classification that I have developed since 1950 to indicate the phylogenetic relationships of the higher taxa of the flowering plants has for the most part been published only in synoptical form. Since some of my more iconoclastic alignments have not been fully explained in print, this paper attempts to explain my reasons for some of the more innovative of these positionings.

My classification of the Angiospermae deviates considerably from others now widely accepted in several major ways. Because I attempt to stress relationships more than differences, my taxa tend to be more inclusive, while the differences within the major categories are recognized through the use of subcategories like suborders and subfamilies. Family names are in accord with the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature though the nine “exceptional” names are dropped as obsolete. Also for the sake of uniformity in phylogeny I have extended the principle of priority to the names of orders and other higher categories up to the class, anticipating a future rule or recommendation of the Code.

Taxa that are treated in some detail with explanation of the alignments are: the Aquifoliaceae, Sarraceniaceae, and Nepenthaceae of the Theales and Plumbaginaceae of the Primulales in the Theiflorae; Fouquieriaceae with Polemoniineae and Solanineae of the Solanales in the Malviflorae; Gyrostemonaceae, Stylobasium Desf., and Emblingia F. Muell. of Sapindineae and Balis L. of Batineae, Rutales, in the Rutiflorae; Crossosomataceae of Rosineae, Rosales, and Buxaceae (excluding Simmondsia Nutt.), Buxineae, and Balanopaceae, Daphniphyllineae, in the Pittosporales of the Rosiflorae; Asteraceae of the Asteriflorae near the Corniflorae and Lamiiflorae and all three less closely with Saxifragineae of the Rosiflorae; Alismatiflorae as less primitive in the Monocotyledoneae than the Liliiflorae; and Juncineae and Poineae in the Commeliniflorae.