Scitamineae is a descriptive botanical name. Historically it has been applied to a remarkably stable group of flowering plants, now referred to as Zingiberales:

Curcuma longa (turmeric), a member of the Zingiberaceae

In the Wettstein system, last revised in 1935, it was circumscribed:

In the Engler system, update of 1964, it was circumscribed:

The Cronquist system, of 1981, also treats the plants so united as a unit, also at the rank of order, but by splitting has increased the number of families to eight, in total). However, the order is named Zingiberales and is placed in subclass Zingiberidae, which in its turn belongs to the class Liliopsida [=monocotyledons].

The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, 1998), recognises this same order Zingiberales (with the same eight families) but assigns it to the clade commelinids in the monocots.

Bibliography

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  • Tomlinson, P. B. (1 January 1962). "Phylogeny of the Scitamineae - Morphological and Anatomical Considerations". Evolution. 16 (2): 192–213. doi:10.2307/2406197. JSTOR 2406197.