2. Andrachne L.

About 15 species, North America, South America, Caribbean Islands, Europe, Africa, Asia.

The generic limits of Andrachne have been broadened in recent years by some authors (Govaerts et al., 2000) to include the 10–25 species of Leptopus Decne., which occur from Asia south to Australia. Andrachne in the strict sense is mostly Mediterranean with a few species in North America, one of which also occurs disjunctly in portions of western South America. The two groups have been said to differ in a few relatively subtle characters such as details of ovule placentation. Molecular studies (Wurdack et al., 2004) have reinforced the relationship between the two groups but have not been able to resolve the controversy over generic limits thus far.