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a b s t r a c tWe reconstruct here the spatial and temporal evolution of the Campanula alliance in order to better understand its evolutionary history. To increase phylogenetic resolution among major groups (Wahlenbergieae-Campanuleae), new sequences from the rbcL region were added to the trnL-F dataset obtained in a previous study. These phylogenies were used to infer ancestral areas and divergence times in Campanula and related genera using a Bayesian approach to molecular dating and dispersal-vicariance analyses that takes into account phylogenetic uncertainty. The new phylogenetic analysis confirms Platycodoneae as the sister group of Wahlenbergieae-Campanuleae, the two last ones inter-graded into a well-supported clade. Biogeographic and dating analyses suggest that Western Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean have played a major role as centers of migration and diversification within the Campanula alliance, probably in relation to the intense orogenic activity that took place in this region during the Late Neogene, and that could have promoted isolation and allopatric speciation within lineages. Diversification rates within several Campanula lineages would have increased at the end of the Miocene, coinciding with the Messinian Stage. Strong selective pressures from climate changes and the expansion of mountainous regions during this period are suggested to explain the adaptation to drought, cold or disturbed environments observed in many Campanula species. Several independent long-distance dispersal events to North America are inferred within the Rapunculus clade, which seem to be related to high ploidy levels.

Chloroplast (trnL-F and rbcL) sequences were used to reconstruct the phylogeny of Geraniaceae and Hypseocharitaceae. According to these data Hypseocharitaceae and Geraniaceae are monophyletic. Pelargonium and Monsonia are sisters to the largest clade of Geraniaceae, formed by Geranium, Erodium and California. According to molecular dating and dispersal-vicariance analysis, the split of the stem branches of Geraniaceae probably occurred during the Oligocene, in southern Africa or in southern Africa plus the Mediterranean area. However, their diversification occurred during the Miocene, coinciding with the beginning of major aridification events in their distribution areas. An ancestor of the largest clade of Geraniaceae (Geranium, Erodium, and California) colonised a number of habitats in the northern hemisphere and in South American mountain ranges. In summary, the evolution of the Geraniaceae is marked by the dispersal of ancestors from Southern Africa to cold, temperate and often disturbed habitats in the rest of world, where only generalist pollination and facultative autogamy could ensure sufficient seed production and survival.

The genus Hypericum L. ("St. John's wort", Hypericaceae) comprises nearly 500 species of shrubs, trees and herbs distributed mainly in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but also in high-altitude tropical and subtropical areas. Until now, molecular phylogenetic hypotheses on infra-generic relationships have been based solely on the nuclear marker ITS. Here, we used a full Bayesian approach to simultaneously reconstruct phylogenetic relationships, divergence times, and patterns of morphological and range evolution in Hypericum, using nuclear (ITS) and plastid DNA sequences (psbA-trnH, trnS-trnG, trnL-trnF) of 186 species representing 33 of the 36 described morphological sections. Consistent with other studies, we found that corrections of the branch length prior helped recover more realistic branch lengths in by-gene partitioned Bayesian analyses, but the effect was also seen within single genes if the overall mutation rate differed considerably among sites or regions. Our study confirms that Hypericum is not monophyletic with the genus Triadenum embedded within, and rejects the traditional infrageneric classification, with many sections being para- or polyphyletic. The small Western Palearctic sections Elodes and Adenotrias are the sister-group of a geographic dichotomy between a mainly New World clade and a large Old World clade. Bayesian reconstruction of morphological character states and range evolution show a complex pattern of morphological plasticity and inter-continental movement within the genus. The ancestors of Hypericum were probably tropical shrubs that migrated from Africa to the Palearctic in the Early Tertiary, concurrent with the expansion of tropical climates in northern latitudes. Global climate cooling from the Mid Tertiary onwards might have promoted adaptation to temperate conditions in some lineages, such as the development of the herbaceous habit or unspecialized corollas.

We here explore the use of a Bayesian approach to island biogeography for disentangling the evolutionary origins of a continental-scale floristic pattern, the enigmatic ‘Rand Flora’. The existence of disjunct distributions across many plant lineages between Macaronesia–northwest Africa, Horn of Africa–southern Arabia and east–south Africa has long intrigued botanists, but only now can we start analysing it within a statistical framework. Phylogenetic and distributional data from 13 plant lineages exhibiting this disjunct distribution were analysed to estimate area carrying capacities and historical rates of biotic exchange between areas. The results indicate that there has been little exchange between southern Africa and the northern African region, and that this exchange occurred via east Africa. Northwest Africa–Macaronesia shows the smallest carrying capacity but highest dispersal rate with other regions, suggesting that its flora was built up by immigration of lineages, probably from the Mediterranean region and western Asia. In contrast, southern Africa shows the highest carrying capacity and lowest dispersal rate, suggesting a flora formed by in situ diversification. We discuss further improvements of the method for addressing more complex hypotheses, such as asymmetric dispersal between regions or repeated cyclical events.