[2] It is one of the 17 orders that make up the large eudicot group known as the rosids in the APG III system of plant classification.

[5] Petenaeaceae consists of a single genus and species Petenaea cordata from Southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize.

[12] The Huerteales are shrubs or small trees found in most tropical or warm temperate regions.

Armen Takhtajan established the family Tapisciaceae in 1987 and placed it in Sapindales, but this treatment was not followed by many others and it did not stand up to phylogenetic analysis.

[15] For most of the twentieth century, Gerrardina and Dipentodon had usually been placed in Flacourtiaceae, a family that is now recognized by only a few taxonomists, and then only as a segregate of Salicaceae.

[5] In 2001, Alexander Doweld established the order Huerteales,[19] defining it to consist of Tapiscia, Huertea, and Dipentodon.

[5] In 2006, a study of DNA sequences showed that Perrottetia was misplaced in Celastrales and that it is sister to Dipentodon in Huerteales.

[7] In 2009, Andreas Worberg and co-authors produced the first phylogenetic study that included all of the genera of Huerteales.

Sapindales Petenaea cordata Gerrardina Tapiscia sinensis Huertea Dipentodon sinicus Perrottetia Brassicales Malvales