In
Rolf Dahlgren's
1982 classification, [2] he placed the Melanthiaceae in the
Liliales order. In his
1985 revision he elevated the family to the order Melanthiales by taking two closely related genera,
Campynemanthe and
Campynemanthe from the
Colchicaceae and creating the family Campynemaceae, (most other authors have preferred
Campynemataceae), and then placing Melanthiaceae and Campynemaceae together to form Melanthialessensu Dahlgren.[3] In this
circumscription Melanthiales was one of five orders belonging to the
superorderLiliiflorae. Later, Melanthiales was included by
Takhtajan in the 2009 revision of
his system as an order of superorder
Lilianae (as the Liliiflorae were renamed).[4] Overall, the
taxonomic history has been complex, and has included positioning this group as a
subfamily (Melanthioideae) within the family
Liliaceaesensu lato.[5]
With the major reorganisation of the
angiosperms that resulted from
molecular phylogenetics,[6] a "Melanthiaceae" and a "Campynemataceae" clade emerged as one of four major groups within Liliales, together with "Liliaceae" and "Colchicaceae".[7] Consequently, these two families were then included in the order
Liliales (lilioids) as separate families, and the order Melanthiales was discontinued.[8][9] These transfers represent one of the few departures of the modern system from Dahlgren's radical reorganisation of the
Lilianae superorder.[7]
Zomlefer, Wendy B.; Williams, Norris H.; Whitten, W. Mark;
Judd, Walter S. (September 2001). "Generic circumscription and relationships in the tribe Melanthieae (Liliales, Melanthiaceae), with emphasis on Zigadenus: evidence from ITS and trnL-F sequence data". American Journal of Botany. 88 (9): 1657–1669.
doi:
10.2307/3558411.
JSTOR3558411.
PMID21669700.