<正>Greenbrier(Smilacaceae) currently belonging to the order Liliales,ordinarily including genus Smilax and Heterosmilax,is a group of worldwide distributed climbing monocot,about 200 species,with alternate leaves characterized by reticulate venation,a pair of petiolar tendrils and usually prickly stems.Although a long study history since Linnaeus named it in 1753,the phylogeny of this dioecious family has never been well resolved.Here,we collected molecular evidence from nDNA(At103),rDNA (ITS) and chloroplast loci(matK,ndhA,ndhF,rpl16 intron)of 135 taxa,total alignment length about 8000 bp,covered all sections and major distribution zone of the family,Ripogonaceae,Philesiaceaewere chosen as outgroups,and reconstructed a sound phylogenetic tree,provided the possible evolutionary history of this family.Our molecular analysis indicates the phylogenetic relationshipsshowed conspicuous geographical pattern within the family-Smilax aspera with Paleotropical distribution(Macaronesia, Mediterranean,East tropica]Africa,Asia Minor,and India-Himalaya) is sister to all other taxa of the family. The rest of the family largely divided into two major clades:Old World and New World.Within these two clades,continental migration and long distance dispersal events were detected.Phenotypic traits according to the phylogeny and more detailed geographical patterns within the clades were found.Bayesian MCMC DIVA analysis was conducted to reconstruct the ancestral distribution of Smilacaceae.Code of distribution was according the terrestrial ecoregions of the world(Olson et al,2001).The result showed a clear western Gondwana origin of the upper Liliales clade(Liliaceae,Rhipogonaceae,Philesiaceae,Smilacaceae), Smilacaceae was originated in South America.The New World Smilax ancestors migrated to Old World probably in Late Eocene,which is supported by divergence time estimating.We applied a relaxed molecular clock method to infer the divergence times of all extant lineages ofSmilacaceae,calibrating its phylogenetic tree with the fossil record ofRipogonumtasmanicum and an estimated divergence time between SmilacaceaeRipogonaceae and Philesiaceae by Janssen and Bremer,2004.Our analysis suggests that divergence within Smilacacecaestarted in late Eocene.Three linages,Paleotropical clade,Old World clade and New World clade,were formed at the transition time between Eocene and Oligocene,which suggested a boreotropical distribution of Smilacaceae before that time.Sections divergence within Smilacaceae was estimated in the middle Miocene.A vast speciation event was found in Miocene/Pliocene boundary.The more richness of species was found in Asia than in Americas.Variety phenotypic forms of Smilax,e.g.erect shrub,herb,semi-herb,flower-fused(Heterosmilax),were endemic in Asia.