I prefer to retain the Santalanae and the Celastranae between the Saxifraganae and the Rosanae. Widespread in tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, Asia and Africa. The Olacaceae are a complex family of many different themes that have been variously termed families or subfamilies. To this Takhtajan adds the Anacolosoideae and the Schoepfioideae Engl. The taxon is not a hemiparasite and it possesses scattered secretory canals that contain a distinctive yellow liquid.
Stipules are present, and the thick-based hairs on the lower leaf surface are unique.
The leaves themselves, while simple in appearance, may well be unifolilate as there is a pulvinus atop the petiole suggesting evolutionarily the potential that the leaf was initially a compound structure. Like the Santalales, the stamens are opposite the petals but here the filaments are adnate to the base of the petals. There is no nectary disk. The embryo is straight and positioned near the edge of the abundant but here ruminate endosperm. The above description of the Olacaceae, therefore, reflects the removal of Medusandraceae.