Editing Laurel forest (section)

== Origin ==
Laurel forests are composed of [[vascular plant]]s that evolved millions of years ago. Lauroid floras have included forests of [[Podocarpaceae]] and [[southern beech]].

This type of vegetation characterized parts of the ancient [[supercontinent]] of [[Gondwana]] and once covered much of the [[tropics]]. Some lauroid species that are found outside laurel forests are [[Relict (biology)|relict]]s of vegetation that covered much of the mainland of [[Australia]], Europe, South America, Antarctica, Africa, and North America when their climate was warmer and more humid. Cloud forests are believed to have retreated and advanced during successive geological eras, and their species adapted to warm and wet conditions were replaced by more cold-tolerant or drought-tolerant [[sclerophyll]] plant communities. Many of the late Cretaceous – early Tertiary Gondwanan species of flora became extinct, but some survived as relict species in the milder, moister climate of coastal areas and on islands.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/newcaledonia/ |title=MBG: DIVERSITY, ENDEMISM, AND EXTINCTION IN THE FLORA AND VEGETATION OF NEW CALEDONIA |work=mobot.org}}</ref> Thus Tasmania and New Caledonia share related species extinct on the Australian mainland, and the same case occurs on the [[Macaronesia]] islands of the Atlantic and on the [[Taiwan]], [[Hainan]], [[Jeju Island|Jeju]], [[Shikoku]], [[Kyūshū]], and [[Ryūkyū Islands]] of the Pacific.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

Although some remnants of archaic flora, including species and genera extinct in the rest of the world, have persisted as endemic to such coastal mountain and shelter sites, their biodiversity was reduced. Isolation in these fragmented habitats, particularly on islands, has led to the development of [[vicariant]] species and genera. Thus, fossils dating from before the [[Pleistocene]] [[glaciation]]s show that species of ''[[Laurus]]'' were formerly distributed more widely around the Mediterranean and [[North Africa]]. Isolation gave rise to ''[[Laurus azorica]]'' in the Azores Islands, ''[[Laurus nobilis]]'' on the mainland, and ''[[Laurus novocanariensis]]'' in the Madeira and the Canary Islands.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}