a group of mostly sympetalous herbs and some trees and shrubs mostly with 2 fused carpels; contains 43 families including Campanulales, Solanaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Labiatae, Verbenaceae, Rubiaceae, Compositae; sometimes classified as a superorder | comprising seed plants that produce an embryo with paired cotyledons and net-veined leaves; divided into six (not always well distinguished) subclasses (or superorders): Magnoliidae and Hamamelidae (considered primitive), Caryophyllidae (an early and distinctive offshoot), and three more or less advanced groups: Dilleniidae, Rosidae, Asteridae |