Brown doves are members of the genus Phapitreron in the pigeon family.

All brown doves are tree-dwellers, but the different species occupy different types of wooded habitats; some are more restricted to old-growth forest while other make use of secondary forest and other woodland.

Some species in this genus have conspicuous black and white stripes on their faces and iridescent neck feathers.

The genus Phapitreron was introduced in 1854 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte for the white-eared brown dove (Phapitreron leucotis).

[2][3] The genus name Phapitreron combines the genus name Phaps introduced by the English naturalist Prideaux John Selby in 1835 for the bronze-wing pigeons with the Ancient Greek trērōn meaning "pigeon".