What is "hamamelidales"

Hamamelidales is an order of flowering plants formerly accepted in a number of systems of plant taxonomy, including the Cronquist system published in 1968 and 1988. The order is not currently accepted in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group III system of plant taxonomy, the most widely accepted system as molecular systematic studies have suggested that these families are not closely related to each other. The APG II system (2003) assigns them to several different orders: Hamamelidaceae and Cercidiphyllaceae to Saxifragales, Eupteleaceae to Ranunculales, Platanaceae to Proteales, and Myrothamnaceae to Gunnerales. Additional studies of the chloroplast genome have since confirmed that the families moved into the Saxigragales are closely related.

The Cronquist system (1981) included the order in subclass Hamamelidae with the circumscription:

• order Hamamelidales family Hamamelidaceae, now order Saxifragales family Cercidiphyllaceae, now order Saxifragales family Eupteleaceae, now order Ranunculales family Platanaceae, now order Proteales family Myrothamnaceae, now order Gunnerales