THE FACTORS OF DISTRIBUTION 85 



genera as Gladiolus and Crassula also suggest a slight 

 affinity between South America and South Africa; but 

 it appears probable that there has been no direct con- 

 nection between Patagonia and South Africa since 

 Jurassic times. On the other hand, Patagonia and 

 Argentina seem to have been joined to Antarctica during 

 the Cretaceous period, by way of South Georgia, while 

 the southern continent seems to have been simultaneously 

 connected with Tasmania and Australia. A connection 

 between Antarctica and New Zealand seems to have 

 belonged to a different period; but, to allow of the 

 migration of many plants from temperate South America 

 to Australasia, these periods must have been charac- 

 terised by far warmer conditions in Antarctic latitudes. 



Whilst the flora of the Andes contains genera like 

 Ranunculus, which may be considered as Scandinavian 

 in origin, it has many remarkable distinctive types the 

 range of which is noteworthy. Fuchsia and Calceolaria 

 extend from Mexico to New Zealand. The Beeches, 

 represented in northern temperate regions by a few 

 species in Europe, Japan, and North America, and no 

 longer found within the tropics, form a marked sub- 

 genus, Nothofagus, in Valdivia, Fuegia, Tasmania, 

 Australia, and New Zealand; whilst the Oaks, so far 

 more varied in the Himalayas and in the United States, 

 only extend into the Southern Hemisphere in Java. 

 Gunner a, Accena, and the beautiful Winter's-bark 

 (Drimys) are other Andine genera that extend into 

 New Zealand, the last-named also reaching Tasmania. 

 No less than one-eighth, and perhaps a higher proportion, 

 of the New Zealand genera are, in fact, common to South 

 America. Though more than one- third of the species 

 are endemic and, with many " northern " genera, such 

 as Ranunculus, Epilobium, and Veronica, New Zealand 

 has many genera in common with Australia, the absence 

 of such types as Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, Grevillea, Hakea, 

 and the phyllodinous Acacias is remarkable. 



The flora of Norfolk Island resembles that of New 

 Zealand; but New Caledonia is far richer, having 

 received a numerous immigration of tropical Indo- 

 Malayan forms by way of Papua, the Solomon Islands, 

 and the New Hebrides. So, too, Northern Australia has 

 a Papuan element in its flora, represented by the wild 

 Banana, Pepper, Orange, Mangosteen, Rhododendron, 



