Origin and development of Artemisia (Asteraceae) in Asia and its implications for the uplift history of the Tibetan Plateau: A review

The spatial and temporal evolution of Artemisia and its relationship with the Tibetan Plateau (TP) uplift are examined by summarizing pollen data from 122 sites across China. The pollen morphological data reveal that Artemisia may have originated from the arid-semiarid middle latitudes of Asia in the late Eocene and spread west and east in the Oligocene as the result of early uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the global cooling. During the Miocene, Artemisia reached the southeastern part of the TP and became common in the western TP due to the high elevation in these regions. At the same time, the Asian monsoon prevented the spread of Artemisia to the southern part of the TP. Since the Pliocene, especially in the Pleistocene, Artemisia distribution was very similar to its current distribution, which indicates that the topography of the TP and the paleoenvironmental conditions in the East Asia became more like today. Thus, the Cenozoic origin and evolution of Artemisia in the Asia was strongly influenced by the uplift of the TP, global cooling, as well as monsoon development. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.