木麻黄科包括3-4属大约70种，主要分布在中南半岛、澳大利亚和太平洋岛屿一带，中国有引种，主要作为南方沿海防风固沙林带、盐碱地改良和干旱地区造林。

本科植物是优良的速生品种，根部有根瘤可以固氮，枝纤细，有密生的小节。叶鳞片状，多枚轮生，类似裸子植物门的麻黄所以得名；花单性，雌雄异株，雄花序穗状，雄花有1雄蕊和4小苞片；雌花序近头状，侧生枝上。果实近球形。

1981年的克朗奎斯特分类法将其单独分为一目—木麻黄目，1998年根据基因亲缘关系分类的APG 分类法将其合并到壳斗目。

The Casuarinaceae are a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of four genera and about 70 species of trees and shrubs native to the Australia, Southeast Asia, Malesia, Papuasia, and the Pacific Islands. At one time, all species were placed in the genus Casuarina. Lawrie A. S. Johnson separated out many of those species and renamed them into the new genera of Gymnostoma in 1980 and 1982, Allocasuarina in 1982, and Ceuthostoma in 1988, with some additional formal descriptions of new species in each other genus. At the time, it was somewhat controversial. The monophyly of these genera was later supported in a 2003 genetics study of the family. In the Wettstein system, this family was the only one placed in the order Verticillatae. Likewise, in the Engler, Cronquist, and Kubitzki systems, the Casuarinaceae were the only family placed in the order Casuarinales.