chloranthaceae have been recognised as a family in most classifications but without clear relatives. molecular systematic studies have shown that it is not closely related to any other family and is among the early-diverging lineages in the angiosperms. in particular, it is neither a eudicot nor a monocot. fossils assigned to chloranthaceae, or closely related to the family, are among the oldest angiosperms known. the apg ii system (2003) left the family unplaced as to order, but the apg iii system (2009) accepted chloranthales, containing only this family. the cladogram below, from the apg iv system (2016), shows the chloranthales in a trichotomy with the magnoliids and the monocot-ceratophyllales-dicot clade. earlier the order was grouped with magnoliids, but studies in 2014 did not support this placement, so that its phylogeny remains unclear.