Eudicots Temporal range: Early Cretaceous - Recent
Primula hortensis, a eudicot
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
clade:	Angiosperms
clade:	Eudicots
Clades
Basal eudicots (Eudicotinae): Ranunculales Sabiales Proteales Trochodendrales Buxales Core eudicots (Rosinae): Gunnerales Pentapetalae: Dilleniales Superasteridae: Berberidopsidales Caryophyllales Santalales Asterids about 10 orders Superrosidae: Saxifragales Vitales Rosids about 16 orders

The Eudicots, Eudicotidae or Eudicotyledons are a monophyletic ground (clade or evolutionarily related group) of flowering plants that had been called tricolpates or non-Magnoliid dicots by previous authors. The botanical terms were introduced in 1991 by evolutionary botanist James A. Doyle and paleobotanist Carol L. Hotton to emphasize the later evolutionary divergence of tricolpate dicotyledons from earlier, less specialized, dicotyledons.^[1] The close relationships among flowering plants with tricolpate pollen grains was initially seen in morphological studies of shared derived characters. These plants have a distinct trait in their pollen grains of exhibiting three colpi or grooves paralleling the polar axis. Later molecular evidence confirmed the genetic basis for the evolutionary relationships among flowering plants with tricolpate pollen grains and dicotyledonous traits. The term means "true dicotyledons" as it contains the majority of plants that have been considered dicotyledons and have characters of the dicotyledons. The term "eudicots" has subsequently been widely adopted in botany to refer to one of the two largest clades of angiosperms (constituting over 70% of angiosperm species), monocots being the other. The remaining angiosperms are sometimes referred to as basal angiosperms or paleodicots but these terms have not been widely or consistently adopted as the do not refer to a monophyletic group.

The other name for the eudicots is tricolpates, a name which refers to the grooved structure of the pollen. Members of the group have tricolpate pollen, or forms derived from it. These pollen have three or more pores set in furrows called colpi. In contrast, most of the other seed plants (that is the gymnosperms, the monocots and the paleodicots) produce monosulcate pollen, with a single pore set in a differently oriented groove called the sulcus. The name "tricolpates" is preferred by some botanists in order to avoid confusion with the dicots, a non-monophyletic group (Judd & Olmstead 2004).

A large number of familiar plants are eudicots, including many common food plants, lumber trees, and ornamentals. Some common and familiar eudicots include members of the sunflower family such as the common dandelion, the forget-me-not, cabbage and other members of the its family, apple, buttercup, maple and macadamia.

The name eudicots (plural) is used in the APG system, of 1998, and APG II system, of 2003, for classification of angiosperms. It is applied to a clade, a monophyletic group, which includes most of the (former) dicotyledons.

Subdivisions[link]

The eudicots can be divided into two groups: the basal eudicots and the core eudicots.^[2] Basal eudicots is an informal name for a paraphyletic group. The core eudicots are a monophyletic group.^[3]

A second study has suggested that the core eudicots can be divided into two clades - Pentapetalae - comprising all core eudicots except Gunnerales - and Gunnerales.^[4]

Pentapetalae can be then divided into three clades:

• (i) a "superrosid" clade consisting of Rosidae, Vitaceae and Saxifragales
• (ii) a "superasterid" clade consisting of Berberidopsidales, Santalales, Caryophyllales and Asteridae
• (iii) Dilleniaceae

Within the core eudicots, the largest groups are the "rosids" (core group with the prefix "eu−") and the "asterids" (core group with the prefix "eu−").

• eudicots :

  core eudicots :

  rosids :

  eurosids I

  eurosids II

  asterids :

  euasterids I

  euasterids II

In more detail, within each clade some unplaced families and orders (unplaced genera are not mentioned):

• clade eudicots

  family Buxaceae [+ family Didymelaceae]

  family Sabiaceae

  family Trochodendraceae [+ family Tetracentraceae]

  order Ranunculales

  order Proteales

  clade core eudicots

  family Aextoxicaceae

  family Berberidopsidaceae

  family Dilleniaceae

  order Gunnerales

  order Caryophyllales

  order Saxifragales

  order Santalales

  clade rosids

  family Aphloiaceae

  family Geissolomataceae

  family Ixerbaceae

  family Picramniaceae

  family Strassburgeriaceae

  family Vitaceae

  order Crossosomatales

  order Geraniales

  order Myrtales

  clade eurosids I

  family Zygophyllaceae [+ family Krameriaceae]

  family Huaceae

  order Celastrales

  order Malpighiales

  order Oxalidales

  order Fabales

  order Rosales

  order Cucurbitales

  order Fagales

  clade eurosids II

  family Tapisciaceae

  order Brassicales

  order Malvales

  order Sapindales

  clade asterids

  order Cornales

  order Ericales

  clade euasterids I

  family Boraginaceae

  family Icacinaceae

  family Oncothecaceae

  family Vahliaceae

  order Garryales

  order Solanales

  order Gentianales

  order Lamiales

  clade euasterids II

  family Bruniaceae

  family Columelliaceae [+ family Desfontainiaceae]

  family Eremosynaceae

  family Escalloniaceae

  family Paracryphiaceae

  family Polyosmaceae

  family Sphenostemonacae

  family Tribelaceae

  order Aquifoliales

  order Apiales

  order Dipsacales

  order Asterales

Note : “ + ....” = optional, as a segregate of the previous family.

References[link]

1. ^ Endress, Peter K. (Oct. - Dec., 2002). "Morphology and Angiosperm Systematics in the Molecular Era". Botanical Review. Structural Botany in Systematics: A Symposium inMemory of William C. Dickison 68 (4). 
2. ^ Worberg A, Quandt D, Barniske A-M, Löhne C, Hilu KW, Borsch T (2007) Phylogeny of basal eudicots: insights from non-coding and rapidly evolving DNA. Organisms, Diversity and Evolution 7 (1), 55-77.
3. ^ Douglas E. Soltis, Pamela S. Soltis, Peter K. Endress, and Mark W. Chase. Phylogeny and Evolution of Angiosperms. Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA, USA. (2005).
4. ^ Moore MJ, Soltis PS, Bell CD, Burleigh JG, Soltis DE (2010) Phylogenetic analysis of 83 plastid genes further resolves the early diversification of eudicots. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA

• Doyle, J. A. & Hotton, C. L. Diversification of early angiosperm pollen in a cladistic context. pp. 169–195 in Pollen and Spores. Patterns of Diversification (eds Blackmore, S. & Barnes, S. H.) (Clarendon, Oxford, 1991).
• Walter S. Judd and Richard G. Olmstead (2004). "A survey of tricolpate (eudicot) phylogenetic relationships". American Journal of Botany 91 (10): 1627–1644. DOI:10.3732/ajb.91.10.1627. PMID 21652313.  (full text )
• Eudicots in Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 7, May 2006.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eudicots

• Eudicots at the Encyclopedia of Life
• Eudicots, Tree of Life Web Project
• Dicots Plant Life Forms