Anisophylleaceae

Previously, this family was categorized under its own order, Anisophylleales, by Takhtajan in 1997.

It is a pantropical family of shrubs and medium-sized to fairly large trees, occurring in wet, tropical forests and swamps of America, Africa and Asia.

The palmately veined leaves have a rather leathery texture, entire margins, and are often asymmetrical at the base. They have minute stipules or simply lack them. They are alternate; spiral, or distichous, or four-ranked (such as in Anisophyllea). The paired leaves may be different in size or shape.

The small flowers are regular and trimerous to pentamerous. They are usually aggregated in axillary racemes or panicles. The flower type varies considerably, most are monoecious, except Combretocarpus; which is hermaphrodite, having perfect flowers.

The inferior, tri- or quadrilocular ovary develops into a drupe or a samara (as in Combretocarpus) with usually one seed, but with three or four seeds in Poga.

Systematics

Modern molecular phylogenetics suggest the following relationships: