Piperales is an order of flowering plants (4,170 recognized species). It necessarily includes the family Piperaceae but other taxa have been included or disincluded variously over time. Well-known plants which may be included in this order include black pepper, kava, the many Peperomias, pepper elder, lizard's tail, birthwort, and wild ginger.[4] The two perianthless families Piperaceae and Saururaceae are mainly herbaceous plants possessing highly reduced flowers.[5][6]
| Piperales
| |
|---|---|
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| Piper aduncum | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Magnoliids |
| Order: | Piperales Bercht. & J.Presl[2] |
| Families | |
| Synonyms[3] | |
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In the APG IV system, of 2016, this order is placed in the clade magnoliids and is circumscribed as follows:[7]
| The current composition and phylogeny of the Piperales.[7][3] | |
This is an expansion from the APG system, of 1998, which used the same placement (in the magnoliids) but used this circumscription:
The Cronquist system, of 1981, placed the order in the subclass Magnoliidae of class Magnoliopsida [=dicotyledons] and used this circumscription:
The Engler system, in its update of 1964, placed the order in subclassis Archichlamydeae in class Dicotyledoneae [=dicotyledons] and used this circumscription:
The Wettstein system, latest version published in 1935, assigned the order to the Monochlamydeae in subclass Choripetalae of class Dicotyledones. It used the circumscription:
