: Fossil evidence indicates that recognizable members of this group emerged primarily in the Late Cretaceous period. Paleobotanical Significance Fossil forms of Amentiferae | Brittonia - Springer Nature
Members were grouped together based on a specific suite of reproductive features suited for wind pollination (): amentiferae
: Most former Amentiferae (oaks, birches, walnuts) are now placed in the order Fagales , which is part of the Rosid I clade. : Fossil evidence indicates that recognizable members of
Contemporary research, such as the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) classification, has dismantled the Amentiferae as a formal taxon: : Male flowers (and sometimes female) are borne
: Flowers are typically unisexual and highly simplified, often lacking petals or having insignificant sepals.
: Male flowers (and sometimes female) are borne in catkins —tassel-like, often pendulous spikes of reduced flowers.
(or Amentaceae) is a historically significant but now largely obsolete botanical group of woody plants characterized by bearing catkins (aments). While once considered a natural evolutionary group, modern molecular phylogenetics has revealed it to be an artificial collection of unrelated families that independently evolved similar wind-pollination traits. Historical Classification and "Canonical" Families