The Florians, in Latin Floriacenses, were an altogether independent order during the feudal era, and not, as some consider, a branch of the Cistercians.
Besides preserving a number of Cistercian observances, the founder added to the austerities of Cîteaux.
The order spread rapidly, soon numbering as many as thirty-five monasteries, but it seems not to have extended beyond Italy.
In 1515, other Florian monasteries united themselves to the Grande Chartreuse (Carthusians) or to the Dominicans, and in 1570, after a century under the regime of commendatory abbots, not a single independent monastery remained, and the Order of Flora had ceased to exist.
Under the Abbot of Flora were also four monasteries of religious women, who followed the Florian rule.