Abstract:Meliaceae is a pantropical family comprising about 51 genera and 550-600 species mainly distributed in tropical Old World.Tropical Asia and Tropical Africa are the two present distribution centres of the family.There are 15 genera and 61 species in China which constitute 29% and 10% of the total genera and species in the family,respectively,and they mainly distribute in the southwest and the south of China.The 15 genera of chinese Meliaceae may be divided into 5 distribution patterns:1.Tropical Asia,Africa and Central to South America disjunction(1 genus),2.Old World tropics(3 genera);3.Tropical Asia and Tropical Australasia(2 genera),4.Tropical Asia to Tropical Africa(1 genus);5.Tropical Asia(8 genera).The species distribution of Chinese Meliaceae may be divided into 2 types:1.Indo-Malesian(31 species);2.Endemic to China (29 species).The Meliaceae of tropical Asia entered Yunnan,Guangxi and Hainan of China through Indo-China,while the Meliaceae in the Philippines is in direct connexion with those in Taiwan of China.China has no endemic genus of Meliaceae.All the species common to China and outside China are of tropical Asia distribution type, and so they are common in origin.The time of the origin of Meliaceae might be inferred in Upper Cretaecous.