[3][4] Most of the members in it are woody plants - lianas or trees such as Dillenia - but herbaceous species such as Hibbertia are also present in Dilleniaceae.

The leaves of the plants in the family are wide and well-developed,[definition needed] but in certain species of Hibbertia they are strongly modified.

[citation needed] The position of the family in the phylogenetic tree and its classification among the other eudicots is uncertain.

Another possible situation places Dilleniaceae as an ancient group, sister to the superrosidae clade (the family shares some common morphology with Vitales) but this is not absolutely proven.

[citation needed] Thus, Dilleniaceae may be an ancient clade that expresses some phylogenetic relation between the higher Eudicots and the rather more primitive groups.