The oldest fossils of Proteales are of the nelumbonaceous genus Notocyamus from the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous of Brazil,[2] 126–121 Ma (million years ago).

[1] The Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, however, suggests the addition of Sabiaceae, which the APG III system did not place in any order in the eudicots, would be sensible.

[6] Well-known members of the Proteales include the proteas of South Africa, the banksia and macadamia of Australia, the planetree, and the sacred lotus.

The origins of the order are clearly ancient, with evidence of diversification in the mid-Cretaceous, roughly over 100 million years ago.

The Wettstein system, last revised in 1935, recognized this order and placed it in the Monochlamydeae in subclass Choripetalae of class Dicotyledones.