Previous studies of the small Southern Hemisphere family Atherospermataceae have drawn contradictory conclusions regarding the number of transantarctic disjunctions and role of transoceanic dispersal in its evolution. Clarification of intergeneric relationships is critical to resolving (1) whether the two Chilean species, Laurelia sempervirens and Laureliopsis philippiana, are related to different Austral-Pacific species, implying two transantarctic disjunctions as suggested by morphology; (2) where the group is likely to have originated; and (3) whether observed disjunctions reflect the breakup of Gondwana. We analyzed chloroplast DNA sequences from six regions (the rbcL gene, the rpl16 intron, and the trnL-trnF, trnT-trnL, psbA-trnH, and atpB-rbcL spacer regions; for all six regions, 4,372 bp) for all genera and most species of Atherospermataceae, using parsimony and maximum likelihood (ML). The family's sister group, the Chilean endemic Gomortega nitida (Gomortegaceae), was used to root the tree. Parsimony and ML yielded identical single best trees that contain three well-supported clades (> or = 75% bootstrap): Daphnandra and Doryphora from south-eastern Australia; Atherosperma and Nemuaron from Australia-Tasmania and New Caledonia, respectively; and Laurelia novac-zelandiac and Laureliopsis philippiana from New Zealand and Chile, respectively. The second Chilean species, Laurelia sempervirens, is sister to this last clade. Likelihood ratio testing did not reject the molecular clock assumption for the rbcL data, which can therefore be used for divergence time estimates. The atherosperm fossil record, which goes back to the Upper Cretaceous, includes pollen, wood, and leaf fossils from Europe, Africa, South America, Antarctica, New Zealand, and Tasmania. Calibration of rbcL substitution rates with the fossils suggests an initial diversification of the family at 100-140 million years ago (MYA), probably in West Gondwana, early entry into Antarctica, and long-distance dispersal to New Zealand and New Caledonia at 50-30 MYA by the ancestors of L. novae-zelandiae and Nemuaron.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Foreman from Western Australia are illustrated and described as new with notes on distribution and ecology. A short note on the application of the name Petrophile biternata is given.

The flowers of Galbulimima belgraveana (F. Muell.) Sprague are bisexual, calyptrate and protogynous. The numerous free stamens are laminar and arranged spirally on an elongated receptacle; only the middle stamens are fertile. There are four microsporangia embedded on the abaxial side of the microsporophyll. The tapetum is secretory and often double. A variety of spore tetrad types is produced. The mature pollen grains are single, monosulcate, scabrate, atectate, spheroidal and 2-celled. The carpels of a flower are initially free but later become concrescent so that a single fruit is formed. The ovules are anatropous, crassinucellar and bitegminal, and show an elongated embryo sac that conforms to the polygonum type of development. There is a massive parietal tissue in early stages of ovule development. In its embryological features, the species shows close relationships to the families Annonaceae and Degeneriaceae and, to a slightly lesser extent, the Magnoliaceae and Eupomatiaceae.

A full flower description of Basisperma lanceolata is given for the first time; notes are given on germination and seedling growth and on the possible relationships of the genus to other myrtaceous genera.

No abstract