 Despite the early origin of the genus, the molecular data suggests that the 3 main 'Schizanthus" clades diverged recently, 5 million years ago, when the desert and semi-desert regions that the genus currently occupies were already arid.The great diversity of flower types within "Schizanthus" has been the product of the species’ adaptation to the different types of pollinator that exist in the Mediterranean, high alpine and desert ecosystems that were present in Chile and adjacent areas of Argentina.