The Brassicales are an order of flowering plants, belonging to the eurosids II group of dicotyledons under the APG II system. Brassicales sensu APG II includes families classified under Capparales in previous classifications. One character common to many members of the order is the production of glucosinolate (mustard oil) compounds. The APG II system includes the following families[1]:
Under the Cronquist system, the Brassicales were called the Capparales, and included among the "Dilleniidae". The only families included were the Brassicaceae and Capparaceae (treated as separate families), the Tovariaceae, Resedaceae, and Moringaceae. Other taxa now included here were placed in various different orders. The circumscriptions of several families are in flux and no consensus has yet emerged; the 1997 Takhtajan system changed allocations once again, inching towards a clearer structure. Several genera included in Capparaceae as traditionally circumscribed have since proven to be more closely related to Brassicaceae[2], and because of this the two families were initially merged under Brassicaceae in the APG II system[3]. The subsequent work[4] resolved the interrelationships of the Capparaceae-Brassicaceae lineages in more detail and allows to reestablish Capparaceae in a more restricted circumscription, either by including Cleome and related genera in Brassicaceae or by recognizing them in the segregate family Cleomaceae. The relationships of several other genera remain unresolved. FootnotesReferences
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