XVI International Botanical Congess

A number of plant genera have pan-Pacific disjunct distributions which may be the product of vicariance or dispersal events. This poster presents the results of a study of the evolution of three different types of DNA in the context of southern hemisphere disjunctions. DNA sequences gathered include the chloroplast trn L intron and spacer region, and the nuclear ITS 1 and 2, Adh genes. Data are presented for 3 mongeneric families with different life strategies. These families are, (1) Coriaria , which has 7 species in New Zealand, 2 in South America and about 6 in the northern hemisphere. (2) Griselinia , which has 5 species in Chile and 2 in New Zealand. (3) Eucryphia. which has 2 species in Chile and 7 in Australia. The combined data from three very different types of DNA will give an insight into the phylogeny of these genera which can be related to their biogeography and their breeding and dispersal.