New Caledonia New Caledonia New Caledonia (; ) is a special collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea. Locals refer to Grande Terre as "" ("the pebble"). New Caledonia has a land area of . Its population of 268,767 (August 2014 census) consists of a mix of Kanak people (the original inhabitants of New
Biodiversity of New Caledonia modern groups such as the Compositae, Gramineae, Labiatae and Melastomataceae. The groups of Gondwanan origin are the most remarkable flora and include Cunoniaceae, Proteaceae and Myrtaceae. The family of Cunoniaceae has six genera in New Caledonia. "Pancheria" and "Codia" are endemic, although the last is known as a fossil in Australia, while "Cunonia" has 23 endemic species in New Caledonia and one species in South Africa. The other three genera have a Papuan-Australian ("Acsmithia"), Australian ("Geissois") and sub-Antarctic ("Weinmannia") distribution. Proteaceae's two main centers of dispersion are in Australia and Southern Africa; the family is represented in the archipelago by