Abstract: The Styracaceae are composed of 12 genera and about 150 species distributing in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, America and the warm region of southern Europe. Asia is the diverse center of the family, with 11 genera in Eeast Asia and There are 8 genera and more than 20 species concentrating in the Nanling Mountain Range and its neighborhoods which must be the conservative center of the family.The Chinese endemic genera, Melliodendrom and Sinojackia and the East Asia and North America disjuncted genus Halesia scattering in this region mig ht originate locally. The family is also abundantly represented in southwest China and the vicinity, with 8 genera and more than 30 species in Yunnan, including many endemic and narrowly distributing species, which might be the center of primary differentiation. Here the Parastyrax and Bruinsmia could have been derived from the storax stock.The Styrax has a secondary center of differentiation in western Malesia. The Malesian Bruinsmia styracoides can be tied up with the present center of the family in continental SE.-E. Asia through B.polysperma. Fossils of Styrax have been found in the Tertiary deposits of central West Europe.The decline of Styracaceae in Europe is probably due to the low temperature caused by the regionalization of the global climate in Tertiary and especially the serious destruc-tion of the glacier in Quaternary. The Styracaceae in North America has a common origin with those of Eurasia landmass. The genus Halesia in southwestern North America can be linked with H. macgregorii in southeastern China by the fossil H.cf.carolina in Pliocene from western Germany. The Styrax in South America might be derived from those of North America via Central America. There are more than 50 species of Styrax centering in the tropical valley of Amazon which is evidently a secondary center of differentiation.The genus Pamphilia which is endemic in Brazil might differentiate locally.

Key words: Geographical distribution, Origin, Dispersal, Styracaceae.