Characteristics:
– Most Fagales are wind-pollinated.
– Fagales are monoecious with unisexual flowers.
Evolutionary history:
– The oldest Fagales member is the flower Soepadmoa cupulata.
– Soepadmoa cupulata shows characteristics of both Nothofagus and other Fagales.
– Ancestor of all Fagales was Nothofagus-like.
Systematics:
– Modern molecular phylogenetics suggest Fagales relationships.
– Fagales is related to Cucurbitales (outgroup).
– Fagales includes families: Nothofagaceae, Fagaceae, Myricaceae, Juglandaceae, Ticodendraceae, Betulaceae, Casuarinaceae.
References:
– Angiosperm Phylogeny Group updated classification: APG III.
– Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew databases and publications.
– Late Cretaceous fagalean inflorescence preserved in amber from New Jersey.
Synonyms:
– Older Cronquist system included four families.
– Corylaceae is now included within Betulaceae.
– Casuarinales, Juglandales, and Myricales were split into different orders.
– Myricales are paraphyletic to Casuarinales and Juglandales.
– World Checklist of selected plant families follows the older Cronquist system arrangement.
The Fagales are an order of flowering plants, including some of the best-known trees. The order name is derived from genus Fagus, beeches. They belong among the rosid group of dicotyledons. The families and genera currently included are as follows:
- Betulaceae – birch family (Alnus, Betula, Carpinus, Corylus, Ostrya, and Ostryopsis)
- Casuarinaceae – she-oak family (Allocasuarina, Casuarina, Ceuthostoma, and Gymnostoma)
- Fagaceae – beech family (Castanea, Castanopsis, Chrysolepis, Fagus, Lithocarpus, Notholithocarpus, Quercus, and Trigonobalanus)
- Juglandaceae – walnut family (Alfaroa, Carya, Cyclocarya, Engelhardia, Juglans, Oreomunnea, Platycarya, Pterocarya, and Rhoiptelea)
- Myricaceae – bayberry family (Canacomyrica, Comptonia, and Myrica)
- Nothofagaceae – southern beech family (Nothofagus)
- Ticodendraceae – ticodendron family (Ticodendron)
| Fagales Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Fagus sylvatica | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Clade: | Fabids |
| Order: | Fagales Engl. |
| Families | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The older Cronquist system only included four families (Betulaceae, Corylaceae, Fagaceae, Ticodendraceae; Corylaceae now being included within Betulaceae); this arrangement is followed by, for example, the World Checklist of selected plant families. The other families were split into three different orders, placed among the Hamamelidae. The Casuarinales comprised the single family Casuarinaceae, the Juglandales comprised the Juglandaceae and Rhoipteleaceae, and the Myricales comprised the remaining forms (plus Balanops). The change is due to studies suggesting the Myricales, so defined, are paraphyletic to the other two groups.