page_title: Saxifragales
section_title: Peridiscaceae
hierarchical_section_title: Saxifragales / Taxonomy / Families / Peridiscaceae
caption_attribution_description: Magyar: Virágzó bánáti bazsarózsák a Somos-hegyen, a Kelet-Mecsekben English: Blooming Paeonia officinalis subsp. banatica on Somos Hill in the East-Mecsek mountain, Hungary
context_page_description: The Saxifragales are an order of flowering plants. They are an extremely diverse group of plants which include trees, shrubs, perennial herbs, succulent and aquatic plants. The degree of diversity in terms of vegetative and floral features makes it difficult to define common features that unify the order.
  In the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification system, the Saxifragales are placed within the major division of flowering plants referred to as eudicots, specifically the core eudicots. This subgroup consist of the Dilleniaceae, superasterids and superrosids. The superrosids in turn have two components, rosids and Saxifragales. The Saxifragales order has undergone considerable revision since its original classification based purely on plant characteristics. The modern classification is based on genetic studies using molecular phylogenetics. There is an extensive fossil record from the Turonian-Campanian time, about 90 million years ago. However, but molecular studies suggest an earlier origin in the early Cretaceous with rapid early diversification to more modern forms.
  The order Saxifragales consists of 15 families, about 100 genera and 2,470 species.
context_section_description: The Peridiscaceae (Ringflower family) are a small tropical family of 4 genera and 11–12 species of small trees and shrubs found in the Guiana Shield of S America (2 genera, one of which, Whittonia, is thought to be extinct) and West and Central Africa (2 genera). The majority of species occur in the African genus Soyauxia. The name comes from the Greek, peri (around) discos (ring).
caption: Paeonia officinalis
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