Parviaceae

Parviaceae is a botanical name that has appeared in historical classifications to designate a small grouping of flowering plants. In contemporary, widely used plant taxonomy, Parviaceae is not recognized as a valid family. The circumscription of Parviaceae has varied across authors and time, and there is no stable or universally accepted set of genera associated with the name.

Taxonomic history and status

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some botanists treated Parviaceae as a distinct family. Other classifications placed its genera within established families, often without agreement on which groups belonged to Parviaceae. With the advent of molecular phylogenetics, the genera once assigned to Parviaceae have generally been redistributed into other families, and the name is now largely encountered only in historical or explanatory contexts.

Characteristics and delimitation

Because Parviaceae was not consistently circumscribed, descriptions of its defining features vary. Some treatments emphasized herbaceous habit with small flowers, while others described a broader range of morphologies. There is no universally accepted diagnostic character set for Parviaceae, which contributes to its obsolescence in modern taxonomy.

Current usage

Today, Parviaceae is considered obsolete in standard taxonomic references. When the term appears, it is typically in discussions of historical classifications or as a note on past attempts at circumscription. For current classifications, botanists rely on contemporary, molecularly informed families and their recognized genera.