ABSTRACT
The role of most of the Chenopodiaceae species in vegetation history and man-induced landscapes is often unclear, and the use of modern syntaxonomy in (palaeo) seed floras and pollen assemblages can be contusing. Since discrimination of the remains of many taxa of Chenopodiaceae at species — or any other taxonomical level is still controversial, the inferences with respect to plant migration and vegetation development should be made by integrating geobotany, autecology and synecology. Phytogeographic data from literature allowed the definition of distribution pattern of the genera within their subfamily in a series of Superimposed Geographic Units. The vegetation history since the Last Glacial Maximum, ca. 18,000 radiocarbon years ago, is reflected in a migrational trend of the halophytes: Taxa of Northern Africa, Near East, and Caucasia appear to be arranged into close spatial clusters, related to biogeographic and physiognomical processes in the migration to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic sandy coasts. The Holocene carpological records clearly contribute to differentiating Cyclolobeae aggregations in prehistoric times. The European river banks are recognized as an important venue for dispersal of (facultative) halophytes. In the past Cyclolobeae taxa migrated from S to N and from E to W along river banks, avoiding the continental macro-climatic conditions of Central Europe.
