Annonaceae and Myristicaceae, the two largest families of Magnoliales, are pantropical groups of uncertain geographic history. The most recent morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses identify the Asian‐American genus Anaxagorea as sister to all other Annonaceae and the ambavioids, consisting of small genera endemic to South America, Africa, Madagascar, and Asia, as a second branch. However, most genera form a large clade in which the basal lines are African, and South American and Asian taxa are more deeply nested. Although it has been suggested that Anaxagorea was an ancient Laurasian line, present data indicate that this genus is basically South American. These considerations may mean that the family as a whole began its radiation in Africa and South America in the Late Cretaceous, when the South Atlantic was narrower, and several lines dispersed from Africa‐Madagascar into Laurasia as the Tethys closed in the Tertiary. This scenario is consistent with the occurrence of annonaceous seeds in th...