Winteraceae is a primitive family of tropical trees and shrubs including 60 to 90 species in five genera. It is of particular interest because it is such a primitive angiosperm family, distantly related to Magnoliaceae, though it has a much more southern distribution. Plants in this family grow mostly in the southern hemisphere, and have been found in tropical to temperate climate regions of Malesia, Oceania, eastern Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar and the Neotropics, with most of the genera concentrated in Australasia and Malesia. "Drimys" is found in the Neotropical realm, from southern Mexico to the subarctic forests of southern South America. "Takhtajania" includes a single species, "T. perrieri", endemic only to Madagascar.