The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system of 1998), also recognizes this family, and assigns it to the order Poales in the clade commelinids, in the monocots.

The Cronquist system of 1981 also recognized such a family and placed it in the order Commelinales in the subclass Commelinidae in class Liliopsida in division Magnoliophyta.

The Wettstein system, last updated in 1935, placed the family in order Enantioblastae.

Xyris torta, twisted yellow-eyed grass, is on Minnesota's endangered species list.

In 2021 it was discovered that Fusarium xyrophilum was able to hijack a South American species of yellow-eyed Xyris grass, creating fake flowers, fooling bees and other pollinating insects into visiting them, taking fungal spores to other plants.