Alismatidae is a botanical name at the rank of subclass. of the subclass will vary with the being used (there are many such systems); the only requirement being that it includes the family Alismataceae. It is a relatively new name: earlier systems, such as the Engler system and , used the name Helobiae for a comparable unit.
Alismatidae in the Takhtajan system
The
Takhtajan system treats this as one of six subclasses within the class
Liliopsida (=
monocotyledons). It consists of:
Alismatidae in the Cronquist system
The
Cronquist system treats this as one of four subclasses within the class
Liliopsida (=
monocotyledons). It consists of (1981):
This subclass comprises less than five hundred species total: many of these are aquatic plant or semiaquatic plants (see
Alismatidae info).
APG II system
The APG II system does not use formal botanical names above the rank of order; it assigns most of the plants involved to the (expanded) order
Alismatales, in the clade '
monocots', although the plants in Cronquist's order
Triuridales are assigned to quite different placements.