The most economically important genus in the family is Citrus, which includes the orange (C. × sinensis), lemon (C. × limon), grapefruit (C. × paradisi), and lime (various).

Most species are trees or shrubs, a few are herbs (the type genus Ruta, Boenninghausenia and Dictamnus), frequently aromatic with glands on the leaves, sometimes with thorns.

[citation needed] The fruit of the Rutaceae are very variable: berries, drupes, hesperidia, samaras, capsules, and follicles all occur.

The two main clades recognized by Groppo et al. in 2012 were upheld, but Morton and Telmer's Rutoideae was paraphyletic and their Amyridoideae was polyphyletic and did not include the type genus.

The large subfamily Zanthoxyloideae was shown to contain distinct clades, but the authors considered that a revised classification at the tribal level was not yet feasible at the time their paper was published.

Non-citrus fruits include the white sapote (Casimiroa edulis), orangeberry (Glycosmis pentaphylla), limeberry (Triphasia trifolia), and the bael (Aegle marmelos).

[citation needed] The curry tree, Murraya koenigii, is of culinary importance in the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere, as its leaves are used as a spice to flavour dishes.

[citation needed] The genus Pilocarpus has species (P. jaborandi, and P. microphyllus from Brazil, and P. pennatifolius from Paraguay) from which the medicine pilocarpine, used to treat glaucoma, is extracted.