Modern classification

There are eight groups of living angiosperms:

Basal angiosperms (ANA: Amborella, Nymphaeales, Austrobaileyales)

Amborella, a single species of shrub from New Caledonia;
Nymphaeales, about 80 species,[18] water lilies and Hydatellaceae;
Austrobaileyales, about 100 species[18] of woody plants from various parts of the
world
Core angiosperms (Mesangiospermae)[16]
Chloranthales, 77 known species[19] of aromatic plants with toothed leaves;
Magnoliids, about 9,000 species,[18] characterized by trimerous flowers, pollen with
one pore, and usually branching-veined leaves—for example magnolias, bay laurel,
and black pepper;
Monocot (left) and dicot
Monocots, about 70,000 species,[18] characterized by trimerous flowers, a single seedlings
cotyledon, pollen with one pore, and usually parallel-veined leaves—for example
grasses, orchids, and palms;
Ceratophyllum, about 6 species[18] of aquatic plants, perhaps most familiar as aquarium plants;
Eudicots, about 175,000 species,[18] characterized by 4- or 5-merous flowers, pollen with three pores, and
usually branching-veined leaves—for example sunflowers, petunia, buttercup, apples, and oaks.

The exact relationship between these eight groups is not yet clear, although there is agreement that the first three groups
to diverge from the ancestral angiosperm were Amborellales, Nymphaeales, and Austrobaileyales.[20] The term basal
angiosperms refers to these three groups. Among the remaining five groups (core angiosperms), the relationship
between the three broadest of these groups (magnoliids, monocots, and eudicots) remains unclear. Zeng and colleagues
(Fig. 1) describe four competing schemes.[21] Of these, eudicots and monocots are the largest and most diversified, with
~ 75% and 20% of angiosperm species, respectively. Some analyses make the magnoliids the first to diverge, others the
monocots.[22] Ceratophyllum seems to group with the eudicots rather than with the monocots. The 2016 Angiosperm
Phylogeny Group revision (APG IV) retained the overall higher order relationship described in APG III.[15]

1. Phylogeny of the flowering plants, as of APG III (2009).[15] 2. Example of alternative phylogeny (2010)[22]

   
Amborella Amborella
   
   
       
Nymphaeales Nymphaeales
   
   
      Austrobaileyales
  Austrobaileyales

   
  magnoliids   monocots
 
angiosperms   angiosperms
         
  Chloranthales   Chloranthales
   
           
      monocots       magnoliids

         
Ceratophyllum Ceratophyllum
           
       
eudicots eudicots
   
 3. APG IV (2016)[2]

 
  Amborellales

 
  Nymphaeales

  Austrobaileyales
  basal angiosperms
(ANA group)
 
  magnoliids
angiosperms
   
  Chloranthales
     
   
    monocots core angiosperms
     

   
    Ceratophyllales
 
 
  eudicots
 

Detailed Cladogram of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) IV classification.[2]

Angiosperms
   
  Amborellales Melikyan, Bobrov & Zaytzeva 1999
 
   
  Nymphaeales Salisbury ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820
 
   
  Austrobaileyales Takhtajan ex Reveal 1992
Mesangiosperms
   
  Chloranthales Mart. 1835

 
  Canellales Cronquist 1957
 
 
 
  Piperales von Berchtold & Presl 1820
  Magnoliids
   
 
  Magnoliales de Jussieu ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820
 
 
 
  Laurales de Jussieu ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820
    Monocots
       
  Acorales Link 1835
 
   
  Alismatales Brown ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820
 
   
  Petrosaviales Takhtajan 1997
     
     
Dioscoreales Brown 1835