Nomenclatural and Taxonomic History

The ordinal names Chenopodiales (Lindley 1833), Caryophyllales (Braun 1864) and Centrospermae (Eichler 1878) are equally acceptable under the Code, which does not extend the principle of priority to the ordinal level. Thorne originally preferred the older name, Chenopodiales, but has agreed to conform to Cronquist’s preference for the more familiar ordinal name Caryophyllales and superordinal name Caryophyllanae. However, in the following discussion it is sometimes convenient to resurrect the well-known irregular name Centrospermae.