Abstract
THE Cupressaceae are distributed more evenly between hemispheres than any other extant family of the Coniferae. They have a high degree of generic endemism in the sense used by Good1 or of quasi-endemism. Their range, like that of most conifers, adds support to the concept that two great phytogeographical dominions existed from early geological times. Several members of genera considered to be exclusively southern traversed the equator in Tertiary or Pleistocene times, but only one of northern origin has reached the southern boundary of the equatorial belt. This is the genus Juniperus of the family Cupressaceae (a species of the northern genus Taxus is recorded from Malaysia on latitude 5° 50′ S., but the Taxaceae has no members of southern origin; Austrotaxus from a limited area in New Caledonia is now considered on morphological grounds to be in a family of its own)2.
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KERFOOT, O. Distribution of the Coniferae: the Cupressaceae in Africa. Nature 212, 961 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/212961a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/212961a0
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