CONTENTS

The species of Abrotanella (Compositae) form mats and cushions a few centimetres high and up to a metre or more in diameter. The ¯owers are less complex than those of most Compositae and lack a pappus, the usual means of dispersal in the family. There are 20 species, all restricted to mountains of Australasia and southern South America. The putative aYnities of Abrotanella involve several tribes of Compositae and the genus is not considered derived within the family. A comparative analysis of areas of endemism in Abrotanella shows clear patterns of vicariance and disjunction shared with many plants and animals, and long-distance dispersal is rejected as an explanation. Abrotanella and the three genera related to it are all restricted to lands bordering the Paci®c. Areas previously accepted as areas o