Of the 34 known species of the genus Nothofagus, nine are found in Chile and Argentina, three in New Zealand, and three in Australia; the remaining 19 come from New Guinea and New Caledonia. Nothofagus are commonly called Southern Beech and are evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs with simple or less often lobed leaves. The flowers are- often solitary and unisexual flowers and the small fruit, with three flat- tened nutlets are produced in a Beech-like capsule which has four lobes with glandular, tooth-like appendages on the outside.