Ebenales

(botany) An order of woody, sympetalous dicotyledonous plants in the subclass Dilleniidae, woody having axile placentation and usually twice as many stamens as corolla lobes.

An order of flowering plants, division Magnoliophyta (Angiospermae) in the subclass Dilleniidae of the class Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons). The order consists of 5 families and about 1750 species, the Sapotaceae (about 800 species) and Ebenaceae (about 450 species) being the largest and most familiar families. The Ebenales are woody, chiefly tropical, sympetalous plants (those with flowers have the petals joined by their margins, at least toward the base, forming a basal tube, cup, or saucer) with usually twice as many stamens (including staminodes) as corolla lobes. Chicle (from Manilkara sapota, in the Sapotaceae) and ebony (Diospyros ebeneum) are obtained from members of the Ebenales. See also Chicle; Dilleniidae; Ebony; Magnoliophyta.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: trees or shrubs of the families Ebenaceae or Sapotaceae or Styracaceae or Symplocaceae
  Synonym: order Ebenales

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Ebenales is the botanical name of an order of flowering plants. This name was used in several systems, for example the Bentham & Hooker system and the Engler system, although the Wettstein system preferred the name Diospyrales'. In the 1981 version of the Cronquist system it was an order placed in subclass Dilleniidae with the following circumscription:

• order Ebenales

  family Ebenaceae

  family Sapotaceae

  family Styracaceae

  family Symplocaceae

In the APG II system all the plants involved are assigned to the hugely expanded order Ericales.

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