In phylogenetics, basal members of a group diverged earlier than a subgroup of others (or vice versa). It is often used in opposition to the word derived. The following are example usages of the term basal: Phylogenetic groups, or taxa, can be monophyletic, paraphyletic, or polyphyletic. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

• The palaeodicots are basal flowering plants, diverging before the main split between the monocots and eudicots.
• Orangutans are the most basal of the great apes, having diverged from the line earliest.

Many biologists (especially those that use cladistics) now prefer to use "basal" instead of the word "primitive," which may imply inferiority. On the contrary, if a basal member of a group exists alongside derived members, it has had more time to evolve and is often equally well-suited to its environment. In the APG system of flowering plant classification, Palaeodicots is a name of convenience. ... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also called angiosperms) are the dominant and most familiar group of land plants. ... Orders Base Monocots: Acorus Alismatales Asparagales Dioscoreales Liliales Pandanales Family Petrosaviaceae Commelinids: Arecales Commelinales Poales Zingiberales Family Dasypogonaceae Monocotyledons or monocots are a group of flowering plants usually ranked as a class and once called the Monocotyledoneae. ... In the APG-system, the names eudicots or tricolpates are applied to a monophyletic group that includes most of the (former) dicotyledons. ... For the chess opening, see Sokolsky Opening. ... Genera Subfamily Ponginae Pongo - Orangutans Gigantopithecus (extinct) Sivapithecus (extinct) Subfamily Homininae Gorilla - Gorillas Pan - Chimpanzees Homo - Humans Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Pierolapithecus (extinct) (tentative) The Hominids (Hominidae) are a biological family which includes humans, extinct species of humanlike creatures and the other great apes... A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of organisms. ... It has been suggested that Clade be merged into this article or section. ... This article is about biological evolution. ...