Eastern Asiatic region

It has been recognized as a natural floristic area since 1872 August Grisebach's volume Die Vegetation der Erde and later delineated by such geobotanists as Ludwig Diels, Adolf Engler (as Temperate Eastern region), Ronald Good (as Sino-Japanese region) and Armen Takhtajan.

The Eastern Asiatic region is dominated by very old lineages of gymnosperms and woody plant families and is thought to be the cradle of the Holarctic flora.

Moreover, this floristic region was not significantly glaciated in the Pleistocene, and many relict Tertiary genera (such as Metasequoia glyptostroboides, ancestors of which were once common throughout the Northern Hemisphere up to subpolar latitudes) found refuge here.

The Eastern Asiatic region endemic flora is characterized by: Approximately eight other families are shared with tropical Southeast Asia (Nageiaceae, Rhodoleiaceae, Daphniphyllaceae, Pentaphyllaceae, Duabangaceae, Mastixiaceae, Pentaphragmataceae, Lowiaceae).

), University of Tokyo Bulletin 37: Sino-Japanese Flora – Its Characteristics and Diversification.