Fagales

Lore & Background

The Fagales order includes seven families according to the APG III system: Betulaceae (birch family), Casuarinaceae (she-oak family), Fagaceae (beech family), Juglandaceae (walnut family), Myricaceae (bayberry family), Nothofagaceae (southern beech family), and Ticodendraceae (ticodendron family). The older Cronquist system recognized only four families, with Corylaceae now included within Betulaceae; the other families were placed in three separate orders among the Hamamelidae. This change resulted from studies suggesting that the Myricales, as previously defined, are paraphyletic to the other groups.

Reader's Guide

Fagales are significant as an order of flowering plants that includes many of the world's most familiar and ecologically important trees, such as oaks, beeches, chestnuts, walnuts, and birches. Their economic and cultural importance is considerable, providing timber, nuts, and ornamental species. The order's classification has been revised by modern molecular phylogenetics, which clarified relationships among its families. The oldest known member of the order is the flower Soepadmoa cupulata from late Turonian-Coniacian New Jersey amber, which exhibits a mosaic of characteristics from both Nothofagus and other Fagales, suggesting that the ancestor of all Fagales was Nothofagus-like. Most Fagales are wind pollinated and monoecious with unisexual flowers, adaptations that have contributed to their widespread distribution in temperate and subtropical regions.

Did You Know?

• The order name Fagales is derived from the genus Fagus (beeches).
• The oldest member of the order is the flower Soepadmoa cupulata from late Turonian-Coniacian New Jersey amber.
• Most Fagales are wind pollinated and monoecious with unisexual flowers.
• The older Cronquist system placed families now in Fagales into three separate orders: Casuarinales, Juglandales, and Myricales.