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Our aim was to implement a molecular dating analysis and assess divergence times among taxa of Winteraceae. This enabled us to test hypotheses of vicariance versus long‐distance dispersal to explain intercontinental disjunctions in the family.

Madagascar, Australia (including Lord Howe Island), New Zealand, New Caledonia and South America.

We sampled all Australian species and subspecies of Winteraceae. We also included the monotypic Takhtajania perrieri and at least two species of each genus from New Zealand, New Caledonia and South America. Three sets of sequences were combined into one data matrix, including two internal transcribed spacer (ITS) data sets and a trnL–F data set. Both ITS data sets included all genera of Winteraceae, and the paralogous genes identified in Zygogynum s.l. in a previous study were sequenced and aligned in separate ITS data sets. A …