The malvids consist of eight orders of flowering plants: Brassicales, Crossosomatales, Geraniales, Huerteales, Malvales, Myrtales, Picramniales and Sapindales. This subgroup of the rosids is divided into 59 families of trees, shrubs, vines and herbaceous plants.

The mustard family includes broccoli, turnips, mustards, and radishes. The ornamental geraniums, and their many hybrids and cultivars, come from five species of Pelargonium. The mallow family includes the plants that yield cocoa beans, Cola nuts, okra, cotton and jute. In the family Lythraceae, Pomegranates were cultivated by Bronze Age cultures, and wild water chestnuts were consumed in large quantities by prehistoric Europeans. Eucalyptus trees are the tallest known flowering plants, up to or more; they are grown for timber and for their oils, used in candy, perfumes and cough medicine. Mangos and cashews come from the same plant family as poison ivy, and can sometimes trigger allergic reactions. Canada produces most of the world's maple syrup, and the maple leaf is the country's national symbol. Citrus agriculture outranks other sweet-fruit industries in warm climates.

Glossary

From the glossary of botanical terms: annual: a plant species that completes its life cycle within a single year or growing season basal: attached close to the base (of a plant or an evolutionary tree diagram) climber: a vine that leans on, twines around or clings to other plants for vertical support deciduous: falling seasonally, as with bark, leaves, or petals glandular hair: a hair tipped with a secretory structure herbaceous: not woody; usually green and soft in texture mangrove: any shrub or small tree growing in brackish or salt water perennial: not an annual or biennial succulent (adjective): juicy or fleshy unisexual: of one sex; bearing only male or only female reproductive organs woody: hard and lignified; not herbaceous

The APG IV system is the fourth in a series of plant taxonomies from the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. In this system, Geraniales and Myrtales are basal within the malvids.

Families