Editing Zingiberales (section)

=== Diversity and biogeography ===

The four families of the basal banana group exhibit less taxonomic diversity than the terminal ginger group. The three genera of Musaceae are distributed in tropical Asia and Africa, although fossil evidence reveals their presence in North America and Africa in the [[Tertiary]], while the three genera of Strelitziaceae are [[Allopatric speciation|allopatric]] (isolated from each other) being found in Madagascar, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin respectively and Lowiaceae occurs in Southeast Asia. The largest family in this group, the Heliconiaceae is primarily [[neotropical]], but also occurs in the Pacific from Samoa to Sulawesi.{{sfn|Kress|Specht|2005}}

Of the four Zingiberineae (gingers) families, three (Zingiberaceae, Costaceae, Marantaceae) are pantropical. The fourth, Cannaceae is restricted to the New World, although widely cultivated. This suborder contains the two largest families (Zingiberaceae and Marantaceae) and the largest number of species.{{sfn|Kress|Specht|2005}}