Nymphaeales is an order of plants, which consists of water lilies and other aquatic plants.
This order is considered to be a basal, or early diverging, group of angiosperms. The families of this order are united by being families of aquatic herbs and are known from the fossil record as early as the Lower Cretaceous.
The fossil record consists especially of seeds, and also pollen, stems, leaves, and flowers. It extends back to the Cretaceous.
It is possible that the aquatic plant fossil Archaefructus belongs to this group.
The Nymphaeales currently includes three families and about 65 to 80 species.
This order was not part of the APG II system's 2003 plant classification (unchanged from the APG system of 1998), which instead had a broadly circumscribed family Nymphaeaceae (including Cabombaceae) unplaced in any order. The APG III system did separate Cabombaceae from Nymphaeaceae and place them in the order Nymphaeales together with Hydatellaceae. This Hydatellaceae was placed among the monocots in previous systems, but a 2007 study found that the family belongs to this group.
Some earlier systems, such as Cronquist's system of 1981, often included the Ceratophyllaceae and Nelumbonaceae in the Nymphaeales. Although, the Takhtajan system of 1980 separated the Nelumbonales, the new order was retained alongside the Nymphaeales in the superorder Nymphaeanae.
Nymphaeales is an order of plants, which consists of water lilies and other aquatic plants.
This order is considered to be a basal, or early diverging, group of angiosperms. The families of this order are united by being families of aquatic herbs and are known from the fossil record as early as the Lower Cretaceous.
The fossil record consists especially of seeds, and also pollen, stems, leaves, and flowers. It extends back to the Cretaceous.
It is possible that the aquatic plant fossil Archaefructus belongs to this group.
The Nymphaeales currently includes three families and about 65 to 80 species.
This order was not part of the APG II system's 2003 plant classification (unchanged from the APG system of 1998), which instead had a broadly circumscribed family Nymphaeaceae (including Cabombaceae) unplaced in any order. The APG III system did separate Cabombaceae from Nymphaeaceae and place them in the order Nymphaeales together with Hydatellaceae. This Hydatellaceae was placed among the monocots in previous systems, but a 2007 study found that the family belongs to this group.
Some earlier systems, such as Cronquist's system of 1981, often included the Ceratophyllaceae and Nelumbonaceae in the Nymphaeales. Although, the Takhtajan system of 1980 separated the Nelumbonales, the new order was retained alongside the Nymphaeales in the superorder Nymphaeanae.