The Salicaceae are the willow family, of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae sensu stricto) included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods. Recent genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group have greatly expanded the circumscription of the family to contain 56 genera and about 1220 species, including Scyphostegiaceae and much of the former Flacourtiaceae. In the Cronquist system, the Salicaceae were assigned to their own order, Salicales, and contained three genera (Salix, Populus, and Chosenia). Now recognized to be closely related to Violaceae and Passifloraceae, the family is placed by the APG in the order Malpighiales.
