A new genus, Salcedoa, is described from the Cordillera Septentrional, northern Dominican Republic. The bilabiate florets, smooth style branches, caudate anthers, and pollen grains size and shape, exine structure and sculpture, and endoaperture shape place it close to the South American genera of the tribe Mutisieae (Asteraceae) centered in the Guayana Shield. Two morphology-based phylogenetic analyses, one using Gochnatia and the other using Chaetanthera as outgroups, and including Salcedoa and the 12 Guayanan genera were performed to determine the sister group relationships of Salcedoa. The results suggest that Salcedoa is sister to Gongylolepis. The unusual distributional pattern of Salcedoa and the Guayanan genera was explored through the dispersal-vicariance method. A trans-oceanic dispersal of fruits is postulated as a probable mechanism by which Salcedoa reached Hispaniola from a South American ancestor.