The existing hypotheses on the phylogeny of the families of the Poales are reviewed, and the data on which they are based are critically assessed. The results of this assessment are presented as a cladogram. The fossil pollen record of the order is also reviewed, and many of the results are reinterpreted. In the light of the cladogram of the families, and of the generic groups in the Restionaceae, as well as the biology of the extant taxa and the fossil pollen, an evolutionary scenario of the order is presented.