水马齿目是1981年的克朗奎斯特分类法列出的一个目,包括3科,其依据是外部形态,本目植物的特点是花中只有一根雄蕊。1998年根据基因亲缘关系分类的APG 分类法认为应该取消这个目,其属下的水穗草科被分到山茱萸目之下,其他两个科直接合并到车前科中,2003年经过修订的APG II 分类法维持原分类。
英语百科
Callitrichales 水马齿目
Callitrichales Dumort (1829) is an order of flowering plants. As circumscribed by American botanist Arthur Cronquist in the Cronquist system (1981), the order included three families:
A feature is the single stamen in the flower.
The order is not recognized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group; the family Hydrostachyaceae is placed in the order Cornales and the plants making up the other two families are included in the family Plantaginaceae.