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| | magnoliids |
 | | Within the magnoliids, researchers have identified four evolutionary lineages and clarified their evolutionary relationships: Magnoliales and Laurales are sisters, and Piperales and Canellales are sisters. |
 | | Previous circumscriptions of Piperales have varied (e.g., Dahlgren, 1980; Cronquist, 1981, 1988; Takhtajan, 1987, 1997; Thorne, 1992; Heywood, 1993), but molecular studies clearly united Aristolochiaceae, Lactoridaceae, Piperaceae, and Saururaceae (e.g., Qiu et al., 1999; P. Soltis et al., 1999; Barkman et al., 2000; D. Soltis et al., 2000; Zanis et al., 2002). |
 | | In addition, recent studies have placed Hydnoraceae, a family of parasitic plants often placed in Rosidae (e.g., Cronquist, 1981; Heywood, 1993), within Piperales, although the exact position is not certain (Nickrent et al., 2002). |
| tolweb.org /magnoliids (3062 words) |
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