Asteraceae, a family of flowering plants, are the most diverse group of flowering plants in the world. This plant family comprises about 34,000 species. An international research team with the participation of the University of Göttingen has now compiled and analyzed a new global database on the distribution and evolutionary history of all Asteraceae species.

The researchers found that an unexpectedly high number of evolutionary events—known as "speciation" where a new species of plants evolves from a common ancestor—occurred in the aster family within relatively short time periods on many islands worldwide. The results are published in Nature Communications.

The presence of Asteraceae is characteristic of the flora of remote islands such as the Galápagos, Mauritius and Polynesia. These plants include some of the most spectacular botanical species, from the diverse genus Bidens, meaning "two toothed," of the Pacific islands, to the strange-looking and highly endangered silverswords of Hawai'i, to the giant Scalesia trees of the Galápagos Islands.

Although they are a prime example of island biodiversity, until now it has not been possible to get a complete picture of where these plants fit in the bigger picture.

To meet this challenge, researchers in botany and evolutionary biology have compiled and analyzed a global database containing information on the distribution and evolutionary history of all Asteraceae species on many islands.

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