Ranunculales is an

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s. Of necessity it contains the family

Ranunculaceae Ranunculaceae (buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 species), ''Delphinium' ...

, the buttercup family, because the name of the order is

based Brandon Christopher McCartney (born August 17, 1989), professionally known as Lil B and as his alter ego The BasedGod, is an American rapper. Lil B has recorded both solo and with Bay Area group The Pack. His solo work spans several genres, i ...

on the name of a genus in that family. Ranunculales belongs to a

paraphyletic group In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

known as the basal eudicots. It is the most

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

clade in this group; in other words, it is sister to the remaining eudicots. Widely known members include poppies, barberries, hellebores, and

buttercups ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about almost 1700 to more than 1800 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed in Europe, ...

Taxonomy

The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group recognized seven families in Ranunculales in their

APG III system The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). Published in 2009, it was superseded in 2016 by a fur ...

, published in 2009. In the preceding APG II system, they offered the option of three segregate families as shown below. * order Ranunculales *: family Berberidaceae *: family

Circaeasteraceae Circaeasteraceae is a family of two species of herbaceous plants native to China and the Himalayas. The family has been recognized by many taxonomists. The APG II system (2003; unchanged from the APG system of 1998), recognizes it and places it ...

*:: family Kingdoniaceae ">Kingdoniaceae.html" ;"title=" family Kingdoniaceae"> family Kingdoniaceae *: family Eupteleaceae *: family Lardizabalaceae *: family Menispermaceae *: family Papaveraceae *:: [+ family Fumariaceae ] *:: [+ family Pteridophyllaceae ] *: family

Note: "+ ..." = optionally separate family (that may be split off from the preceding family). Under this definition, well-known members of Ranunculales include buttercups, clematis,

columbines ''Aquilegia'' (common names: granny's bonnet, columbine) is a genus of about 60–70 species of perennial plants that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals Pu ...

, delphiniums, and poppies. A phylogeny of Ranunculales was published in 2009, based on

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis of

DNA sequence DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

s. The authors of this paper revised the subfamilies and tribes of the order. This is reflected in the subsequent revision of the APG, APG IV (2016). The analysis revealed that the order consisted of three clades, Eupteleaceae, Papaveraceae and a third clade, considered to be the "core" Ranuculales, consisting of the remaining five families. The phylogeny of the families is shown in the cladogram.

Evolution

The fossil form '' Leefructus'', described in 2011, has been recognized as a member of this order.Fossil is best look yet at an ancestor of buttercups
/ref> ''Leefructus mirus'' shows fully developed leaves; stem and flower that are very similar in structure to those of the modern

. The fossil is dated to 125 million years old and it not only proves that Ranunculales is an ancient group of eudicots but demonstrates that the whole

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

clade may be older than expected. The structure of the plant and its age may lead to a new approach regarding the field that studies the evolution of

s. The fact that ''Leefructus'' shows a well-developed structure similar to modern ranunculids suggests that this group of eudicots may have developed earlier than the age of the fossil.

History

Historically the term

Ranales The Ranales are an obsolete taxon of the Dicotyledons, with rank of order typified by ''Ranunculus'' (Ranunculaceae). Description The Ranunculaceae were included directly in the Thalamiflorae by de Candolle (1819-1824) as an order within that su ...

was used to include the Ranunculaceae and related families, as described by Bentham and Hooker. This became replaced with Ranunculales by Melchior in 1964. The Cronquist system (1981) also recognised the order, but placed it in the subclass Magnoliidae, in

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

Magnoliopsida dicotyledons It used this circumscription: * order Ranunculales *: family

*: family

*: family Berberidaceae *: family Sargentodoxaceae *: family Lardizabalaceae *: family Menispermaceae *: family Coriariaceae *: family Sabiaceae In the Cronquist system, the Papaveraceae and Fumariaceae (including the plants in the optional family Pteridophyllaceae) were treated as a separate order Papaverales, placed in this same subclass Magnoliidae. The Cronquist circumscription of Ranunculales is now known to be polyphyletic. Sabiaceae is in a clade of basal eudicots separate from Ranunculales. Coriariaceae is now placed in the order Cucurbitales.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

NCBI Taxonomy Browser
{{Authority control Angiosperm orders Extant Aptian first appearances