3.4 Ancestral Area Reconstruction
As the results of ancestral area reconstruction based on cpDNA phylogeny showed, the most recent common ancestor of the Notholirionspecies probably originated in the Southern Himalayas(region A, blue in the Figure 9, Nodes Ⅰ) . Meanwhile, the most recent common ancestor ofN. macrophyllum and N. bulbuliferum most likely originated in the Hengduan Mountains (region C, brown in the Figure 9, Nodes Ⅱ) . The origin of the genus Notholirion is hypothesized to have begun with initial divergence in the Southern Himalayas, followed by migration of a portion of the ancestral taxa to the Eastern Himalayas. From there, some populations continued to migrate and spread eastward to the Hengduan Mountains, where they underwent further divergence.