of this order with multi-gene phylogenies and plastid data has important implications for understanding the evolution of characteristics. Finally in 2016 Sass and colleagues, using multiplexed exon capture were able to resolve the entire phylogenetic tree with high support. This confirmed the place of Musaceae as sister to the remaining families, confirming Model 3. Evolution The common ancestor of the Zingiberales together with those of its sister order, the Commelinales, is estimated to have originated 158 Mya (million years ago) in the Early Cretaceous, with separation of the two orders between 80 and 124 Mya, and with rapid radiation into the major lineages in the mid Cretaceous ca. 60–100 Mya and six of the eight families established by the end of the Cretaceous, Estimates of crown group age (most recent common ancestor of the sampled species of the clade of interest) vary widely between 34 and 110 Mya, and may need revision in the light of developing knowledge of the topology of the order. Fossil-calibrated molecular estimates suggest a date of 110 to 80 Mya for the diversification of primary lineages. If Musaceae is the stem family of the order, as seems likely this places the origin of Zingiberales ca. 124 Mya, with diversification occurring ca. 110 Mya in the middle Cretaceous. That origin (124 Mya) was congruent with the breakup of the southern land mass, Gondwana. Probably the ancestral Zingiberales were distributed in tropical Gondwanal and encompassing present-day Americas, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Within this land mass, Australia seems the most likely anestral area, with subsequent dispersals between Africa and neotropical America. Earlier studies had implied Southeast Asia as the origin. The current distribution of the Zingiberales seems to be a product of numerous secondary and tertiary dispersal events between the major tropical regions of the world. Zingiberales demonstrate an evolutionary trend in the ontogeny of the perianth (sepals and petals). The appearance of a dimorphic perianth (in which petals and sepals differ in appearance) is variable throughout the commelinid monocots, with a transition from an undifferentiated monomorphic perianth to a dimorphic one occurring independently in the two sister orders, Commelinales and the Zingiberales. The evolution of floral morphology within Zingiberales demonstrates a marked correlation between the reduction of the number of fertile stamens, and increased petaloidy. The ancestral Zingiberales flower is thought to have had 5–6 fertile stamens, following which the staminode evolved in the lineage leading to