Piperales
Order of flowering plants
title: "Piperales" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["piperales", "angiosperm-orders"] description: "Order of flowering plants" topic_path: "general/piperales" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piperales" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Order of flowering plants ::
| taxon = Piperales | fossil_range = | image = Piper aduncum.jpg | image_caption = Piper aduncum | authority = Bercht. & J.Presl | subdivision_ranks = Families | subdivision = *Aristolochiaceae
- Piperaceae
- Saururaceae | synonyms_ref = | synonyms = * Aristolochiales de Jussieu ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820
- Asarales Horan. 1847
- Hydnorales Takhtajan ex Reveal 1992
- Lactoridales Takhtajan ex Reveal 1993
- Saururales von Martius 1835
Piperales is an order of flowering plants (4,170 recognized species). It necessarily includes the family Piperaceae but other taxa have been included or disincluded variously over time. Well-known plants which may be included in this order include black pepper, kava, the many Peperomias, pepper elder, lizard's tail, birthwort, and wild ginger. The two perianthless families Piperaceae and Saururaceae are mainly herbaceous plants possessing highly reduced flowers.
Classification
APG system
In the APG IV system, of 2016, this order is placed in the clade magnoliids and is circumscribed as follows:
- order Piperales
- : family Aristolochiaceae (including Asaraceae, Hydnoraceae and Lactoridaceae)
- : family Piperaceae
- : family Saururaceae
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| The current composition and phylogeny of the Piperales. |
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This is an expansion from the APG system, of 1998, which used the same placement (in the magnoliids) but used this circumscription:
- order Piperales
- : family Aristolochiaceae
- : family Lactoridaceae
- : family Piperaceae
- : family Saururaceae
Earlier systems
The Cronquist system, of 1981, placed the order in the subclass Magnoliidae of class Magnoliopsida [=dicotyledons] and used this circumscription:
- order Piperales
- : family Chloranthaceae
- : family Piperaceae
- : family Saururaceae
The Engler system, in its update of 1964, placed the order in subclassis Archichlamydeae in class Dicotyledoneae [=dicotyledons] and used this circumscription:
- order Piperales
- : family Chloranthaceae
- : family Lactoridaceae
- : family Piperaceae
- : family Saururaceae
The Wettstein system, latest version published in 1935, assigned the order to the Monochlamydeae in subclass Choripetalae of class Dicotyledones. It used the circumscription:
- order Piperales
- : family Piperaceae
References
References
- "Piperales".
- "Introduction to the Piperales". UC Berkeley.
- (2007). "Molecular evolution of the petal and stamen identity genes, APETALA3 and PISTILLATA, after petal loss in the Piperales". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
- [https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/382803 Phylogenetic Relationships of the Perianthless Piperales: Reconstructing the Evolution of Floral Development]
- Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
- Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. (2016). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
- Stevens, P.F.. "Piperales". Angiosperm Phylogeny Website.
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