Strasburgeriaceae

Ixerbaceae Strasburgeriaceae is a small family of flowering plants in the order Crossosomatales, only found in New Zealand and New Caledonia.

Both genera have simple, evergreen, alternated leaves, often in worl-like clusters, with gland-tipped serrations, hermaphroditic, pentamerous flowers with persistent sepals, clawed petals, flat and long filaments that extend beyond the petals and a persistent style with a punctiform stigma.

The fact that it was found in western and southern Australia and in New Zealand suggests that the most recent common ancestor of Strasburgeria and Ixerba had developed by the time of the break-up of East-Gondwana.

[2] Recent phylogenetic analysis resulted in the inclusion of the genus Ixerba (previously assigned to the monotypic family Ixerbaceae) in the Strasburgeriaceae.

The massive polyploidy in S. robusta may have furthered the adaptations that let it survive on the ultramafic substrates found in the montane forest of New Caledonia.