The family has been universally recognized by taxonomists, including the APG II system (2003; unchanged from the APG system of 1998), which places it in the order Ranunculales, in the clade eudicots.

The family consist of 7 genera with about 40 known species[2][3] of woody plants.

The leaves are alternate, and compound (usually palmate), with pulvinate leaflets.

They are found in eastern Asia, from the Himalayas to Japan, with the exception of the genera Lardizabala and Boquila, both native to southern South America (Chile, and Boquila also in adjacent western Argentina).

The extinct genus Kajanthus is known from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal.