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The most primitive family among class Magnoliopsida. It is comprised by woody plants (shrubs and small trees) coming from Easter asia and East shore of northern America. They have quite big simple leaves with petioles. Spiral arrangement of leaves.

It has very primitive structure, which is comprised by:
• undifferentiated perianth (tepals),
• great ammount of stamens
• apocarpous gynoecium (it consists of many separate pistils)
• elongated, conical receptacle
• very often leaf-like stamens
• spiral arrangement of floral parts
• terminal position on the shoot

Despite having quite primitive flowers, Magnoliaceae have wood (xylem) consisting of tracheids, which is the sign of specialisation.
Magnolias (Magnolia kobus, M. stellata, M. acuminata etc.) are very often grown in the gardens due to their big beautiful flowers.