Nomaceae

Nomaceae is a plant family name that appears in historical and some regional classifications but is not recognized as a distinct, current family in major modern systems. Its circumscription has varied greatly among authors, leading to instability and eventual reclassification of the included taxa. In contemporary taxonomy, Nomaceae is generally treated as defunct or as a synonym rather than a valid, standalone family, with the genera previously placed in it redistributed to other established families.

Taxonomic history and circumscription have been inconsistent, reflecting the pre-molecular era of taxonomy when classifications relied largely on morphology. Because of this, there is no single, universally accepted list of genera historically assigned to Nomaceae. With advances in molecular phylogenetics, many earlier groupings were revised, and Nomaceae was not retained as a formal family in modern systems.

In current classifications such as the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) frameworks, Nomaceae is not recognized, and the taxa once associated with it are placed within other families according to their phylogenetic relationships. This reflects a broader trend toward monophyletic and widely accepted circumscriptions based on DNA data rather than solely on morphological similarity.

The name Nomaceae persists mainly as a historical footnote in older floras and taxonomic treatises. For researchers and readers, it serves as a reminder of the shifting nature of plant taxonomy and the importance of consulting up-to-date classifications to determine the current family placement of species formerly linked to Nomaceae.