1987/03/01 by Quentin Cronk · 3 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Mediterranean and Iberian flora and fauna #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Plant and animal studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1987.tb00888.x
openalex publication_date 1987/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
When the endemic plant species of St Helena are ordered according to their increasing taxonomic isolation, their corresponding 'sister groups' show a 'relictual series' of increasing geographical disjunction. This is best explained by progressive extinction and evolution in continental areas rather than by particularly high rates of evolutionary change on the island (i.e. the taxonomically isolated endemics are ancient relicts). Few of the supposed trends of oceanic island evolution are convincingly evident in the flora of St Helena. St Helena was formed in the Miocene, and it is likely that the relict genera colonized St Helena from Southern Africa before the wet forest flora in this area largely disappeared as the climate deteriorated from the late Miocene onwards.