| Cornales | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Dove tree in flower, a species inNyssaceae | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Cornales Link[1] |
| Families | |
TheCornales are an order offlowering plants, early diverging among theasterids, containing about 600 species. Plants within the Cornales usually have four-parted flowers,drupaceous fruits, and inferior to half-inferiorgynoecia topped with disc-shapednectaries.
In the classification system ofDahlgren the Cornales were in thesuperorder Corniflorae (also called Cornanae). Under theAPG IV system, the Cornales order includes these families:[2]
The oldest fossils assigned with confidence to the order areHironoia fusiformis, described fromConiacian age Japanese coalified fruits, andSuciacarpa starrii described from Americanpermineralized fruits ofCampanian age.[3]
The Cornales order is sister to the remainder of the large and diverseasteridclade. The Cornales are highly geographicallydisjunct andmorphologically diverse, which has led to considerable confusion regarding the proper circumscription of the groups within the order and the relationships between them.[4] Under theCronquist system, the order comprised the families Cornaceae, Nyssaceae,Garryaceae, andAlangiaceae, and was placed among theRosidae, but this interpretation is no longer followed. Many families and genera previously associated with the Cornales have been removed, including Garryaceae,Griselinia,Corokia, andKaliphora, among others.[4]
Likely cladogram for Cornales:[5]
Molecular data suggest four clades are within the Cornales:Cornus-Alangium,nyssoids-mastixioids, Hydrangeaceae-Loasaceae, andGrubbia-Curtisia, with the Hydrostachyaceae in an uncertain position, possibly basal.[6] However, the relationship between these clades is unclear, and as a result of many historical taxonomic interpretations and differing opinions regarding the significance of morphological variations, rankings of taxa within the order are inconsistent.[4][6][7] These difficulties in interpreting the systematics of Cornales may represent an early and rapid diversification of the groups within the order.[6]
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