Abstract

The biogeography of the subgenus is correlated with the morphological evolution of the species. From a source round the Coral Sea the subgenus has diversified into four evolutionary lines, namely sect. Pharmacosycea (America), ser. Nervosae (Indo-Pacific), ser. Vasculosae (Afro-Indo-Pacific) and ser. Austrocaledonicae (New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands, New Hebrides). The last in its isolation shows the pachycaul-leptocaul evolution. F. pseudojaca (New Guinea) is critical in this interpretation. F. smithii is removed to ser. Nervosae. F. pritchardii (Fiji) is removed to sect. Sycocarpus subsect. Papuasyce in alliance with F. microdictya , but this group may relate with ancestral Pharmacosycea . The species of ser. Austrocaledonicae are described and illustrated to show this unique evolutionary line: F. lifouensis (Loyalty Isl.) is described as new. In ser. Nervosae , in the alliance of F. pachysycia , two new species are described, F. homodroma and F. mesotes .

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