In Rolf Dahlgren's 1982 classification, [2] he placed the Melanthiaceae in the Liliales order. In his 1985 revision he elevated the family to the order Melanthiales by taking two closely related genera, Campynemanthe and Campynemanthe from the Colchicaceae and creating the family Campynemaceae, (most other authors have preferred Campynemataceae), and then placing Melanthiaceae and Campynemaceae together to form Melanthialessensu Dahlgren.[3] In this circumscription Melanthiales was one of five orders belonging to the superorderLiliiflorae. Later, Melanthiales was included by Takhtajan in the 2009 revision of his system as an order of superorder Lilianae (as the Liliiflorae were renamed).[4] Overall, the taxonomic history has been complex, and has included positioning this group as a subfamily (Melanthioideae) within the family Liliaceaesensu lato.[5]
With the major reorganisation of the angiosperms that resulted from molecular phylogenetics,[6] a "Melanthiaceae" and a "Campynemataceae" clade emerged as one of four major groups within Liliales, together with "Liliaceae" and "Colchicaceae".[7] Consequently, these two families were then included in the order Liliales (lilioids) as separate families, and the order Melanthiales was discontinued.[8][9] These transfers represent one of the few departures of the modern system from Dahlgren's radical reorganisation of the Lilianae superorder.[7]
Zomlefer, Wendy B.; Williams, Norris H.; Whitten, W. Mark; Judd, Walter S. (September 2001). "Generic circumscription and relationships in the tribe Melanthieae (Liliales, Melanthiaceae), with emphasis on Zigadenus: evidence from ITS and trnL-F sequence data". American Journal of Botany. 88 (9): 1657–1669. doi:10.2307/3558411. JSTOR3558411. PMID21669700.