THE ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE 
FAMILY MYRTACEAE 
EDWARD W. BERRY 
In the study of the lower eocene flora of the Mississippi embay- 
ment, a rather exhaustive compilation was undertaken to show the 
geological distribution of the genera present in that flora and the 
geographical distribution of the existing species in the families 
that were represented. This laborious work fully repaid the time 
involved, since many facts of general interest came to light and 
many highly suggestive, even if unproved, ideas emerged from 
the statistical tables. 
A preliminary and somewhat tentative sketch of these matters 
was published,’ and it is planned to elaborate the subject further 
in the final publication on the lower eocene flora under the auspices 
of the U.S. Geological Survey. 
Among the various families that are represented in numerous 
fossil floras, none has excited greater interest among students of 
recent floras and geographical distribution than the family 
Myrtaceae, which in the genus Eucalyptus and its more immediate 
allies is so prominent an element in the present flora of Australia. 
What may be legitimately expected when fossil and recent floras 
shall have been studied in a sufficiently broad way, even with the 
present insufficient data of both recent and fossil geographical 
distribution, may be illustrated by the following brief sketch of 
what is known of the Myrtaceae. 
The family Myrtaceae contains over 3100 existing species, 
separated by taxonomists into two subfamilies. The first of these, 
the Myrtoideae, with 32 genera and about 2400 existing species, 
comprises mostly tropical forms, of which over 75 per cent are 
confined to the Western Hemisphere. There are, however, over 
200 species in Asia, one of which extends into Europe; about 75 
species in Africa; about 200 species in Australia; and about 60 
species in Oceanica. Nineteen of the genera are confined to 
* Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. 53:129-250. 1914. 
Botanical Gazette, vol. 59] [484 
