This new volume presents a unique treatment of recent findings regarding the Hamamelidae, flowering plants which are of critical importance to the evolution and phylogeny of the dicotyledons. It integrates data from living and fossil taxa, and contains the latest information on the phylogenetic position of the Hamamelidae with respect to other dicotyledons, leaf architecture, sieve element plastids, karylogy, and Cretaceous fossil history. Coverage also includes relationships within the Trochodendrales and Hamamelidales sensu lato , the phylogenetic position of the Myrothamnaaceae, and the morphology and systematics of the Hamamelidaceae, Buxaceae, Didymelaceae, and Daphniphyllaceae.