The adjective Gondwanan is often used in biogeography to describe where different organisms live. It is most commonly used when the organisms only live in two or more of the now-separate regions that were once part of Gondwana, including the Antarctic flora. For example, the Proteaceae, a family of plants, lives only in southern South America, South Africa, and Australia. This is called a "Gondwanan distribution" (meaning that the Proteaceae live only in the areas that used to be part of Gondwana). This pattern shows that the Proteaceae have existed for a very long time since the time that Gondwana existed.