[1] Three species occur on the South American mainland and one, Selkirkia berteroi (sometimes written berteri), the first of the genus to be reported, is an endemic on Robinson Crusoe Island off the coast of Chile.

[3] Selkirkia berteroi is an endemic shrub on Robinson Crusoe Island, and due to the narrow distribution to be considered critically endangered according to IUCN criteria.

Boraginaceae systematics relied strongly on fruit morphology, so all four species were initially thought to belong to Cynoglossum, where the four nutlets typically are beset with barbed glochidia.

[4] When Selkirkia pauciflora (under its illegitimate name Cynoglossum paniculatum) was found to be closely related to Myosotidium hortensia and Omphalodes, Serrano et al. placed the species into a new genus, Mapuchea.

[3] Due to the similar growth habit (more or less shrubby) and the glochidiate nutlets, the four species are now considered as more widely circumscribed genus Selkirkia.