Commelinidae

(botany) A subclass of flowering plants in the class Liliopsida.

A subclass of the class Liliopsida (monocotyledons) of the division Magnoliophyta (Angiospermae), the flowering plants, consisting of 7 orders, 16 families, and nearly 15,000 species. The orders include Commelinales, Eriocaulales, Restionales, Juncales, Cyperales, Hydatellales, and Typhales. For further information see separate articles on each order.

These monocotyledons are syncarpous (the carpels are united in a compound ovary) or pseudomonomerous (reduced to a single carpel from a syncarpous ancestry). The endosperm is usually starchy, and the perianth is either well differentiated into sepals and petals or more or less reduced and not petallike. The stomates have two or more subsidiary cells, the pollen is either binucleate or more often trinucleate, and the endosperm may be nuclear. Many of the families have well-developed vessels in all vegetative organs. Several of the orders of Commelinidae have often been treated as a single order Farinosae or Farinales. See also Liliopsida; Magnoliophyta; Plant kingdom.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: one of four subclasses or superorders of Monocotyledones; comprises about 19,000 species in 25 families of mostly terrestrial herbs especially of moist places including: Cyperaceae; Gramineae; Bromeliaceae; and Zingiberaceae
  Synonym: subclass Commelinidae

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Commelinidae is a botanical name at the rank of subclass. Circumscription of the subclass will vary with the taxonomic system being used (there are many such systems); the only requirement being that it includes the family Commelinaceae. A well-known system that did use this name is the Cronquist system (1981), but it was also used by the Takhtajan system:

Commelinidae in the Takhtajan system

In the Takhtajan system treats this as one of six subclasses within the class Liliopsida (=monocotyledons). It consists of

• subclass Commelinidae

  superorder Bromelianae

  order Bromeliales

  order Velloziales

  superorder Pontederianae

  order Philydrales

  order Pontederiales

  order Haemodorales

  superorder Zingiberanae

  order Musales

  order Lowiales

  order Zingiberales

  order Cannales

  superorder Commelinanae

  order Commelinales

  order Mayacales

  order Xyridales

  order Rapateales

  order Eriocaulales

  superorder Hydatellanae

  order Hydatellales

  superorder Juncanae

  order Juncales

  order Cyperales

  superorder Poanae

  order Flagellariales

  order Restionales

  order Centrolepidales

  order Poales

Commelinidae in the Cronquist system

In the Cronquist system treats this as one of four subclasses within the class Liliopsida (=monocotyledons). It consists of:

• subclass Commelinidae

  order Commelinales

  order Eriocaulales

  order Restionales

  order Juncales

  order Cyperales

  order Hydatellales

  order Typhales

APG system

The APG II system does not use formal botanical names above the rank of order; most of the plants involved here are assigned to the clade commelinids in the monocots (its predecessor, the APG system knew the clade commelinoids).

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