,
We are familiar with the Gondwanda connection between the Proteaceae, Podocarpaceae, Nothofagaceae and Podocarpaceae of South America and South Africa, but when the flowering plants arose in South America the ancestors of many other plant families got to Australia until it was set adrift in the Southern Ocean. Some retained conservative values and other groups diversified and I will be discussing some of the connections between the plants that I encountered recently in the Andes and their counterparts in Australia across a range of families.
Dr Roger Farrow, formerly of CSIRO, is a member of the Australian Native Plant Society.