The Aquifoliales are an order of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s, including the Aquifoliaceae (holly) family, and also the Helwingiaceae (2-5 species of temperate

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s) and the Phyllonomaceae (4 species of

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s and

s). In 2001, the families Stemonuraceae and

Cardiopteridaceae Cardiopteridaceae is a eudicot Family (biology), family of flowering plants. It consists of about 43 species of trees, shrubs, and Woody plant, woody vines, mostly of the tropics, but with a few in Temperateness, temperate regions.Vernon H. Heywo ...

were added to this order. This circumscription of Aquifoliales was recognized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group when they published the

APG II system The APG II system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II system) of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly Molecular phylogenetics, molecular-based, list of systems of plant taxonomy, system of plant taxonomy that ...

in 2003. In the

Cronquist system The Cronquist system is a list of systems of plant taxonomy, taxonomic classification system of angiosperms, flowering plants. It was developed by Arthur Cronquist in a series of monographs and texts, including ''The Evolution and Classification of ...

, there is no Aquifoliales order: the Aquifoliaceae are placed within the order Celastrales and the others are in other families.

References

Angiosperm orders {{Asterid-stub