The Brassicales (or Cruciales) are an order of flowering plants, belonging to the eurosids II group of dicotyledons under the APG II system.[2] One character common to many members of the order is the production of glucosinolate (mustard oil) compounds. Most systems of classification have included this order, although sometimes under the name Capparales (the name chosen depending on which is thought to have priority).[3]
The order typically contains the following families:[4]
Akaniaceae – two species of turnipwood trees, native to Asia and eastern Australia
Phylogentic relationships based on data from plastid DNA. The numbers next to each branching point indicate its estimated date (million years ago). Families with more than 30 species are in bold.
On 20 April 2020, a newly described monotypic species from Namibia, namely, Tiganophyton karasenseSwanepoel, F.Forest & A.E. van Wyk is placed under this order as a monotypic member of new family Tiganophytaceae, which is closely related to Bataceae, Salvadoraceae and Koeberliniaceae.[6]
The families Capparaceae and Brassicaceae are closely related. One group, consisting of Cleome and related genera, was traditionally included in the Capparaceae but doing so results in a paraphyletic Capparaceae.[3] Therefore, this group is generally now either included in the Brassicaceae or as its own family, Cleomaceae.[4][7]
^Christenhusz, Maarten; Fay, Michael Francis; Chase, Mark Wayne (2017). Plants of the World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Vascular Plants. Chicago, Illinois: Kew Publishing and The University of Chicago Press. pp. 401–419. ISBN978-0-226-52292-0.