It has an austral distribution, being indigenous to southern Argentina and Chile, as well as New Zealand and the island of Tasmania.

[3] Molecular phylogenetic comparisons of DNA sequences have shown that Raukaua is closely related to Schefflera sensu strictissimo, Cheirodendron, Motherwellia, and Cephalaralia (not Cephalaria!).

R. laetevirens and R. valdiviensis are from southern Chile and Argentina, the latter being restricted to the Valdivian temperate rain forest.

[7] The genus Raukaua was erected by Berthold Carl Seemann in 1866[8] in Journal of Botany, British and Foreign.

The South American species are sister to a clade comprising the Tasmanian R. gunnii and the monospecific mainland Australian genera Cephalaralia and Motherwellia.

[4] Because of the polyphyly of Raukaua, its South American and Tasmanian species must eventually be transferred to other genera.

A treatment of Araliaceae has already been submitted for the book series entitled The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants.