The fossil record of the family, mostly represented by pollen such as Clavatipollenites, extends back to the dawn of the history of flowering plants in the Early Cretaceous, and has been found on all continents.

[6] The four genera assigned to this family can be distinguished from each other by the following characters: Sarcandra species are shrubs whose wood lacks vessels.

They have bisexual flowers, with only one, club-shaped, stamen, in which the connective tissue (between the anther lobes which carry the pollen) is wide, and with a smooth and moist stigma.

Flowers are bisexual, each of which bears three stamens on straight filaments with three anther lobes and a wide connective, and with a smooth and moist stigma.

There are 12 species, which occur on islands in the Pacific and insular South-East Asia, from New Zealand and the Marquesas to Borneo, and on Madagascar.

Molecular systematics studies have shown that it is not closely related to any other family and is among the early-diverging lineages in the angiosperms.

[11] Amborellales Nymphaeales Austrobaileyales magnoliids Chloranthales monocots Ceratophyllales eudicots A 2004 study based on comparisons of homologous DNA fragments indicated that both the family Chloranthaceae and its extant genera Ascarina, Chloranthus, Hedyosmum and Sarcandra are probably monophyletic, with Hedyosmum being the first to diverge from the rest, and Ascarina being the sister group of the clade consisting of Sarcandra and Chloranthus.

As of June 2016[update], these four extant genera are recognized, and insights into their relationships are expressed in the tree below:[6][12] Chloranthus Sarcandra Ascarina Hedyosmum The extinct genus Chloranthistemon also belongs to this family.