The family Asteraceae, with the original name Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae were first described in the year 1740. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger family is unclear as the quantity of extant species in each family is unknown.
Helianthus is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of Helianthus are native to North America and Central America. The best-known species is the common sunflower. This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke, are cultivated in temperate regions and some tropical regions, as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants. The species H. annuus typically grows during the summer and into early fall, with the peak growth season being mid-summer.
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae is a species of flowering plant in the aster family (Asteraceae) native to central and eastern North America. Commonly known as New England aster, hairy Michaelmas-daisy, or Michaelmas daisy, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant usually between 30 and 120 centimeters tall and 60 to 90 cm wide.
Lasthenia glaberrima is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names smooth goldfields and rayless goldfields. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California, where it grows in wet meadows and vernal pools.
Sclerolepis is an aquatic plant native to the eastern United States. It has only one known species, Sclerolepis uniflora, the pink bogbutton. It lives in ponds and other wet areas. When water is abundant, the plant lives underwater, with long stems and flaccid, elongated leaves, and does not flower. When the water level drops, it assumes a form more familiar in terrestrial plants, with an erect stem, and flowers in summer to fall. The flowers are pink.
Kyhosia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae containing the single species Kyhosia bolanderi, which is known by the common names Bolander's madia and kyhosia.
Malacothrix coulteri is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name snake's head or snake's head desert-dandelion. It is native to the southwestern United States is also found in southern South America where it is an introduced species. Its native habitat includes desert, grassland, chaparral, and other open, sandy areas. It is an annual herb producing a waxy, upright flowering stem up to about 50 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves, which are mostly located near the base of the stem, are toothed or not. The inflorescence is an array of flower heads with nearly spherical involucres of scale-like phyllaries one to two centimeters wide. The bracts are green, often with dark striping or marking. The yellow or white ray florets are about a centimeter long.
Gorteria is a genus of small annual herbaceous plants or shrubs, with 8 known species, that is assigned to the daisy family. Like in almost all Asteraceae, the individual flowers are 5-merous, small and clustered in typical heads, and are surrounded by an involucre, consisting of in this case several whorls of bracts, which are merged at their base. In Gorteria, the centre of the head is taken by relatively few bisexual and sometimes also male, yellow to orange disc florets, and is surrounded by one complete whorl of 5–14 infertile cream to dark orange ray florets, sometimes with a few ray florets nearer to the centre. None, some or all of them may have darker spots at their base. The fruits remain attached to their common base when ripe, and it is the entire head that breaks free from the plant. One or few seeds germinate inside the flower head which can be found at the foot of plants during their first year. The species flower between August and October, except for G. warmbadica that blooms mostly in May and June. The species of the genus Gorteria can be found in Namibia and South Africa.
Cyclachaena xanthiifolia, known as giant sumpweed, or rag sumpweed is a North American plant species in the sunflower family, Asteraceae. It is the only species in the genus Cyclachaena. Giant sumpweed is believed to be native to the Great Plains but is now found across much of southern Canada and the contiguous United States, though rarely in the Southeast.
Symphyotrichum georgianum is a rare species of flowering plant in the Asteraceae, the aster family. Its common name is Georgia aster. It is native to the southeastern United States where it is known from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. As of 2013, it may be extirpated from the state of Florida.
Symphyotrichum dumosum is a species of flowering plant of the family Asteraceae commonly known as rice button aster and bushy aster. It is native to much of eastern and central North America, as well as Haiti and Dominican Republic. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach a height of 1 meter.
Balduina (honeycombhead) is a genus of North American plants in the sunflower family described as a genus in 1818.
Balduina atropurpurea, the purpledisk honeycombhead, is a North American species of plants in the sunflower family. It is native to the southeastern United States.
Balduina angustifolia, the coastal plain honeycombhead, is a North American species of plants in the sunflower family. It is native to the southeastern United States.
Helianthella uniflora, the oneflower helianthella, is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae. It grows in the western United States and western Canada. It has been found from British Columbia south as far as northern Arizona and northern New Mexico.
Scolymus grandiflorus is a spiny annual or biennial plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region. With up to 75 cm high stems, it is the smallest of the species of Scolymus. Its stems are lined with uninterrupted spiny wings. It also has the largest flowerheads in the genus, of approximately 5 cm wide. It has yellow, sometimes yolk-yellow ligulate florets. Its vernacular name in Maltese is xewk isfar kbir, meaning "large yellow fin", cardogna maggiore in Italian, scoddi on Sicily, and scolyme à grandes fleurs in French.
Helianthus nuttallii subsp. parishii is a subspecies of the species Helianthus nuttallii in the genus Helianthus, family Asteraceae. It is also known by the common names Los Angeles sunflower and Parish's sunflower. This subspecies has not been seen, in the wild or in cultivation, since 1937.
Symphyotrichum racemosum is a species of flowering plant native to parts of the United States and introduced in Canada. It is known as smooth white oldfield aster and small white aster. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a late-summer and fall blooming flower.
Felicia is a genus of small shrubs, perennial or annual herbaceous plants, with 85 known species, that is assigned to the daisy family. Like in almost all Asteraceae, the individual flowers are 5-merous, small and clustered in typical heads, and which are surrounded by an involucre of, in this case between two and four whorls of, bracts. In Felicia, the centre of the head is taken by yellow, seldom whitish or blackish blue disc florets, and is almost always surrounded by one single whorl of mostly purple, sometimes blue, pink, white or yellow ligulate florets and rarely ligulate florets are absent. These florets sit on a common base and are not individually subtended by a bract. Most species occur in the Cape Floristic Region, which is most probably the area where the genus originates and had most of its development. Some species can be found in the eastern half of Africa up to Sudan and the south-western Arabian peninsula, while on the west coast species can be found from the Cape to Angola and one species having outposts on the Cameroon-Nigeria border and central Nigeria. Some species of Felicia are cultivated as ornamentals and several hybrids have been developed for that purpose.
Symphyotrichum chapmanii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to the Apalachicola River drainage basin of Alabama and Florida. Commonly known as savanna aster, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach 30 to 80 centimeters tall. Its flowers have purple to blue-lavender ray florets and pale yellow disk florets. It is a wetland species and is of conservation concern. It may be extirpated in Alabama.
