The genus Bowenia, entirely restricted to Australia, includes two living and two fossil species of cycads in the family Stangeriaceae, though Bowenia has been recommended for placement in a separate family by itself. The only two living species occur in Queensland, Bowenia serrulata around Byfield and B.spectabilis in restricted pockets in North Queensland where they grow in the warm, wet, tropical rainforests, on protected slopes and near streams, primarily in the lowlands.The fossil species Bowenia eocenica is known from deposits in a coal mine in Victoria, Australia, and B. papillosa is known from deposits in New South Wales, both fossils consist of leaflet fragments and are from the Eocene era (45 to 55 million years ago).