The placement of Polypremum pretty much mirrors the checkered placement of the Buddlejaceae. The family shares many features in common with those found in the Gentianiales, and especially with a broadly defined Loganiaceae. Based on the reported serological and chemical data cited by Cronquist and Takhtajan respectively, and the rbc L data, the Buddlejaceae are much more closely related to the Scrophulariaceae even in a narrow sense than they are to any member of the Gentianales. In fact, Thorne places the two families side by side in 1997. Some species are cut for timber, and B. asiatica is used as a fish poison in southeastern Asia.
Several species have a history of medicinal use.
Nuxia is a tropical tree that is occasionally cultivated. The elegant American desert shrub, Emorya , ought to be more frequently used as a cultivated plant. Reconsideration of this rare genus is in order. 24 genera and some 900 species. Nearly cosmopolitan but best developed in southeastern Asia, Australia, and scattered locations throughout the Old World tropics.