Commelinales

(botany) An order of monocotyledonous plants in the subclass Commelinidae marked by having differentiated sepals and petals but lacking nectaries and nectar.

An order of flowering plants, division Magnoliophyta (Angiospermae), which is included in the subclass Commelinidae in the class Liliopsida (monocotyledons). It consists of 4 families and about 1000 species, the bulk of which is in the families Commelinaceae (about 700 species) and Xyridaceae (about 200 species). The order is marked by its flowers that ordinarily have the perianth well differentiated into sepals and petals but do not have nectaries or nectar. The ovary is consistently superior and the fruit capsular. The wandering Jew (species of Tradescantia and Zebrina in the Commelinaceae) belongs to this order. See also Commelinidae; Liliopsida; Magnoliophyta; Plant kingdom.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: an order of monocotyledonous herbs
  Synonyms: Xyridales, order Xyridales, order Commelinales

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Commelinales Fossil range: 80 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Late Cretaceous - Recent
Tradescantia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Commelinales Dumort.
Families
See text

Commelinales is the botanical name of an order of flowering plants. It's considered that the Commelinales together with Zingiberales evolved in the Late Cretaceous around 80 millions of years ago. Two of the best-known genera in the order are Commelina and Tradescantia.

In the APG II system, of 2003, the order is placed in the clade commelinids, in the monocots, and comprises the families Commelinaceae (the spiderwort family, about 650 species), Haemodoraceae (about 75 species of mostly southern hemisphere plants), Hanguanaceae (two species of tropical Asian plants), Philydraceae (five species of tropical Asian plants) and Pontederiaceae (about three dozen species of aquatic plants including water hyacinth). This represents a change from the APG system, of 1998, which had not included family Hanguanaceae in this order.

In the Cronquist system, of 1981, this order was placed in subclass Commelinidae of class Liliopsida and copmrised the families Commelinaceae, Mayacaceae, Rapateaceae and Xyridaceae.

External links

• NCBI Taxonomy Browser

• Media related to Commelinales at Wikimedia Commons

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