List of Saxifragales, Vitales and Zygophyllales families

Saxifragales, Vitales and Zygophyllales are three orders of flowering plants with a total of 18 families. They belong to the superrosids, a group of around 150 related families, including the rose family. They are the only such orders that are not included in three large subgroups of the superrosids: the COM clade, the nitrogen-fixing clade and the malvids.

The order Saxifragales includes fruit-bearing shrubs, woody vines, succulents, aquatics, and many ornamental trees and garden plants, including stonecrops, currants and witch-hazels. Peonies are bred by horticulturists and widely cultivated in temperate gardens. The antiseptic resin of sweetgum trees has been used as a balm since biblical times. Cercidiphyllum japonicum, the largest tree species native to Japan, is used to make boards for the game of Go. Redcurrants, rich in pectin, are used in jams and juices.

Vitales and Zygophyllales include trees, shrubs, vines and herbaceous plants. Krameria triandra is used as an astringent in mouthwash and toothpaste. Wine, juices and jellies are made from grapes, and the leaves are also edible. Guaiacum, in the twinleaf family, yields exceptionally hard lumber.

From the glossary of botanical terms:

• annual: a plant species that completes its life cycle within a single year or growing season
• basal: attached close to the base (of a plant or an evolutionary tree diagram)
• deciduous: shedding or falling seasonally, as with bark, leaves, or petals
• herbaceous: not woody; usually green and soft in texture
• perennial: not an annual or biennial
• succulent (adjective): juicy or fleshy
• unisexual: of one sex; bearing only male or only female reproductive organs
• woody: hard and lignified; not herbaceous

The APG IV system is the fourth in a series of plant taxonomies from the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group.

Saxifragales is the only superrosid order that is not also a member of the rosids. Although the Saxifragales families are quite diverse, there are a few visible traits that can be linked to many of them. The plants have relatively small seeds, except in the family Peridiscaceae. Flowers tend to have separate, unfused petals, without nectar-secreting glands. The pollen-bearing anthers are often attached by their bases. Most fruits are follicles (seed pods). There are often two distinct ovaries, each with a hypanthium, a tube or cup-like structure in a flower that includes the bases of the sepals, petals, and stamens.

• List of plant family names with etymologies

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