Salicales

(botany) A monofamilial order of dicotyledonous plants in the subclass Dilleniidae; members are dioecious, woody plants, with alternate, simple, stipulate leaves and plumose-hairy mature seeds.

An order of flowering plants, division Magnolio-phyta (Angiospermae), in the subclass Dilleniidae of the class Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons). The order consists of the single family Salicaceae, with about 350 species. There are only two genera, Salix (willow) and Populus (poplar and cottonwood), the former by far the larger. The Salicales are dioecious, woody plants, with alternate, simple, stipulate leaves and much reduced flowers that are aggregated into catkins. The mature seeds are plumose-hairy and are distributed by the wind. See also Dilleniidae; Magnoliopsida; Poplar; Willow.