Mezilaurus group
The entirely South American Mezilaurus group includes the genera Anaueria (1 sp), Chlorocardium (2 spp.), Clinostemon (2 spp.), Mezilaurus (22 spp.), Sextonia (2 spp.) and Williamodendron (5 spp.). Morphologically, these genera have little in common, although all of them look somewhat aberrant compared to other Lauraceae. The studies of Chanderbali et al. (2001), Rohwer & Rudolph (2005) and Alves & Souza (2013) suggest the following phylogenetic hypothesis:
Anaueria and Chlorocardium share opposite leaves, but they have little in common in their flower structure. The clade uniting them is still somewhat uncertain. It was supported by two different data sets in the analyses of Chanderbali et al. (2001), but in the other analyses it was either unresolved or Anaueria appeared as the basal clade of the group, followed by Chlorocardium.
The other four genera share leaves crowded at the tips of the branches, and in most of them only the third staminal whorl is fertile. Sextonia, however, has nine tongue-shaped, heavily papillose anthers, similar to those of Chlorocardium.