Microspermae is a botanical name

Botanical name

A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...

 of an order

Order (biology)

In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...

 of flowering plants. It is a descriptive name

Descriptive botanical names

Descriptive botanical names are names that are governed by Article 16 of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature , which rules that a name above the rank of family may be either descriptive or formed from the name of an included family...

 referring to the size of the seed; it was used for the order containing the orchids.

In taxonomical systems this name has now mostly dropped out of use, being displaced by the name Orchidales (formed from the family name Orchidaceae). The name Microspermae was used in the Bentham & Hooker

Bentham & Hooker system

An early taxonomic system, the Bentham & Hooker system for seed plants was published in :The system recognises the following main groups:*DICOTYLEDONUM POLYPETALARUM*: Series 1. THALAMIFLORÆ*: Series 2. DISCIFLORÆ*: Series 3. CALYCIFLORÆ...

 and the Engler system

Engler system

One of the prime systems of plant taxonomy, the Engler system was devised by Adolf Engler.According to Engler, Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien the main groups of plants are:* I. divisio Schizophyta* II. divisio Phytosarcodina...

s. The Wettstein system

Wettstein system

A system of plant taxonomy, the Wettstein system recognised the following main groups, according to* I. phylum Schizophyta*::: 1. classis Schizophyceae*::: 2. classis Schizomycetes* II. phylum Monadophyta* III. phylum Myxophyta...

 also used a descriptive name, but preferred Gynandrae

Gynandrae

Gynandrae is a botanical name of an order of flowering plants. It was used in the Wettstein system for the order containing the orchids and is a descriptive name referring to the stamens...

.

Microspermae in the Bentham & Hooker system

• order Microspermae

  family Hydrocharideae

  Hydrocharitaceae

  Hydrocharitaceae is a flowering plant family that includes a number of species of aquatic plant, broadly called the Tape-grasses, and includes the well known Canadian Waterweed and Frog's Bit.The family includes both fresh and marine aquatics...

  
  

  family Burmanniaceae

  Burmanniaceae

  Burmanniaceae is a botanical name of a family of flowering plants, consisting of about a hundred species of herbaceous plants in roughly a dozen genera. Often they are quite remarkable plants, more often red than green, without much leaf area and not growing very big in any way.The APG II system,...

  
  

  family Orchideae

  Orchidaceae

  The Orchidaceae, commonly referred to as the orchid family, is a morphologically diverse and widespread family of monocots in the order Asparagales. Along with the Asteraceae, it is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species,...