The family Asteraceae, alternatively 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.
Sarcostemma is a formerly recognized genus of flowering plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1810. The name is derived from the Greek words σαρκὸς (sarkos), meaning "flesh," and στέμμα (stemma), meaning "garland". Members of the genus were known generally as climbing milkweeds or caustic bushes. The genus Sarcostemma has been shown to be nested within the genus Cynanchum, and in 2012 Sarcostemma was put into synonymy with Cynanchum.
Funastrum utahense, synonym Cynanchum utahense, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Funastrum of the family Apocynaceae, known by the common names Utah swallow-wort and Utah vine milkweed. This relatively uncommon perennial vine is native to the Mojave Desert from California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona in the United States. This is a small vine with a highly branched, twining stem rarely exceeding a meter in length with which it physically supports itself on other shrubs and trees. It has small narrow leaves a few centimeters long. Its flowers are bright yellow to orange and grow in umbels. The fruit is a grooved follicle several centimeters long.
Erigeron linearis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name desert yellow fleabane or narrow leaved fleabane.
Grindelia hirsutula is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names hairy gumplant and hairy gumweed.
Lasthenia californica is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name California goldfields. It is native to western North America.
Calycadenia mollis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name soft western rosinweed. It is native to a section of central California, from Tuolumne County do northern Tulare County. There are also isolated populations farther north in Nevada County. The plant grows in a number of habitat types in the Central Valley and adjacent Sierra Nevada foothills.
Calycadenia multiglandulosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, known by the common names sticky calycadenia and sticky western rosinweed. It is endemic to California, where it is a common in the Coast Ranges and in the Sierra Nevada Foothills from Shasta County to Kern County.
Calycadenia oppositifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Butte County western rosinweed. It is native primarily to Butte County, California, although a few populations have been found in other parts of the state. It grows in the foothills of the high mountain ranges.
Calycadenia pauciflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name smallflower western rosinweed. It is endemic to northern California, where it grows in the Coast Ranges north of the San Francisco Bay Area from Napa County to Tehama County, often on serpentine soils.
Calycadenia villosa is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name dwarf western rosinweed. It is endemic to central California, where it is known from a limited distribution in the Central Coast Ranges in Monterey County and San Luis Obispo County, with a few populations in Santa Barbara and western Fresno Counties. There are perhaps 16 occurrences.
Constancea is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae containing the single species Constancea nevinii, which is known by the common name Nevin's woolly sunflower. It is endemic to three of the Channel Islands of California, where it grows in coastal scrub habitat. This is a small shrub or subshrub generally growing up to one or 1.5 meters tall, and taller when an erect form, with a branching, woolly stem. The whitish, woolly oval leaves may be up to 20 centimeters long and are divided into many narrow lobes with edges curled under. The inflorescence is a cluster of 10 to 50 or more small flower heads, each on a short peduncle. The flower head has a center of hairy, glandular, star-shaped yellow disc florets and a fringe of four to nine yellow ray florets, each about 2 millimeters long. The fruit is an achene a few millimeters long with a small pappus at the tip.
Madia anomala is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name plumpseeded madia. It is endemic to northern California, where it can be found on hillsides in the San Francisco Bay Area and adjacent mountains and valleys.
Perityle inyoensis, known by the common names Inyo rockdaisy and Inyo laphamia, is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family.
Saussurea americana is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name American saw-wort. It is native to northwestern North America from Alaska to far northern California to Montana, where it grows in mountain habitat, such as meadows and forests. It is a perennial herb producing one or more hairy, glandular, erect stems up to a meter tall or more from a thick caudex. The lance-shaped leaves are up to 15 centimeters long and have toothed edges, especially the larger lower leaves. The inflorescence is a cluster of several flower heads, each a bullet-shaped body covered in purple or purple-tinged green phyllaries. The head opens at the tip to bloom with several white to purple tubular disc florets; there are no ray florets. The fruit is an achene tipped with a pappus, the whole unit sometimes exceeding a centimeter in length.
Deinandra bacigalupii is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, known by the common names Livermore tarplant and Livermore moonshine. It is endemic to Alameda County, California, where there are only about five known occurrences around Livermore. It grows in open areas with alkali soils, such as alkali sinks and meadows. This plant was previously included within Deinandra increscens ssp. increscens, but it was separated and elevated to species level in 1999.
Funastrum is a genus of flowering plant now in the family Apocynaceae. The name is derived from the Latin word funis, meaning "rope", and astrum, alluding to the twining stems. Members of the genus are commonly known as twinevines.
Funastrum cynanchoides, also known as fringed twinevine, twining milkweed or climbing milkweed, is a perennial plant in the family Apocynaceae that grows twining through other plants in the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert. It has milky sap and smells pungent. It is similar to Funastrum hirtellum.
Matelea baldwyniana is a species of climbing or trailing vine with white flowers in the family Apocynaceae (dogbane), known by the common name Baldwin's milkvine and white spinypod. It previously belonged to the family Asclepiadaceae (milkweed). It is native to the central and southeastern United States.
