Phylogeny and biogeography of the Chilean Pseudopanax laetevirens

Nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences are used in phylogenetic analyses to assess relationships of the Chilean Pseudopanax laetevirens. Close relatives of P . laetevirens are P. gunnii, an endemic to Tasmania, Raukaua species from N ew Zealand, and Cheirodendron tryginum from Hawai'i. Analyses suggest that P. laetevirens is the sister species to P. gunnii. The current distribution of these taxa may be consistent with the movement of continental plates du ring the late Eocene or early Miocene. Cheirodendron may have had a souther n origin and be the result of long distance dispersal to the northwest.