Abstract: The distributions of many plant taxa in China at the present day indicate centres of floristic importance which may be ancient, and have cvolutionary significance, or which may be only their latest locations in a Cenozoic history of migrations. This paper summarizes the present and Cenozoic distributions in China of the following taxa: Nitraria, Ephedra, Carya, Liquidamber, Pterocarya, Detulaceae. It is concluded that the centres of importance of the named genera are different now from what they were at some time in the Cenozoic past; each has accomplished major migrations and suffered significant extinctions during that period. The history of the Betulaceae is less clear but in principlc soluble.

Key words: potential, palaeobotany, geography, China