Asterales is an order of dicotyledonous flowering plants that includes the large family Asteraceae known for composite flowers made of florets, and ten families related to the Asteraceae. While asterids in general are characterized by fused petals, composite flowers consisting of many florets create the false appearance of separate petals.
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.
The Heliantheae are the third-largest tribe in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). With some 190 genera and nearly 2500 recognized species, only the tribes Senecioneae and Astereae are larger. The name is derived from the genus Helianthus, which is Greek for sun flower. Most genera and species are found in North America and South America. A few genera are pantropical.
Eupatorieae is a tribe of over 2000 species of plants in the family Asteraceae. Most of the species are native to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate areas of the Americas, but some are found elsewhere. Well-known members are Stevia rebaudiana, a number of medicinal plants (Eupatorium), and a variety of late summer to autumn blooming garden flowers, including Ageratum (flossflower), Conoclinium (mistflower), and Liatris.
The Mutisioideae are a subfamily in the plant family Asteraceae that includes about 630 species assigned to 44 different genera. This subfamily is mainly native in South America, except for Adenocaulon, Chaptalia, Gerbera, Trichocline, which have species in all continents other than Europe and Antarctica. Common characters are the deeply incised corollas of the disc florets, with five lobes, sometimes merged in two lips, flower heads with overlapping involucral bracts, anthers with tails and pointy tips, the styles usually stick far out of the florets and are essentially hairless. Most species are herbs, but some are vines, shrubs, or small trees.
Asteroideae is a subfamily of the plant family Asteraceae. It contains about 70% of the species of the family. It consists of several tribes, including Astereae, Calenduleae, Eupatorieae, Gnaphalieae, Heliantheae, Senecioneae and Tageteae. Asteroideae contains plants found all over the world, many of which are shrubby. There are about 1,135 genera and 17,200 species within this subfamily; the largest genera by number of species are Helichrysum (500–600) and Artemisia (550).
Vernonieae is a tribe of about 1300 species of plants in the aster family. They are mostly found in the tropics and warmer temperate areas, both in the Americas and the Old World. They are mostly herbaceous plants or shrubs, although there is at least one tree species, Vernonia arborea.
The Cichorieae are a tribe in the plant family Asteraceae that includes 93 genera, more than 1,600 sexually reproductive species and more than 7,000 apomictic species. They are found primarily in temperate regions of the Eastern Hemisphere. Cichorieae all have milky latex and flowerheads that only contain one type of floret. The genera Gundelia and Warionia only have disk florets, while all other genera only have ligulate florets. The genera that contain most species are Taraxacum with about 1,600 apomictic species, Hieracium with about 770 sexually reproducing and 5,200 apomictic species, and Pilosella with 110 sexually reproducing and 700 apomictic species. Well-known members include lettuce, chicory, dandelion, and salsify.
The Cichorioideae are a subfamily of the family Asteraceae of flowering plants. Familiar members of Cichorioideae include lettuce, dandelions, chicory and Gazania species. The subfamily comprises about 240 genera and about 2900 species. It is heterogeneous and hard to characterize except with molecular characters.
Hecastocleis is a genus of low thorny shrubs with stiff branches, assigned to the daisy family. At the tip of each of the branches, inflorescences are subtended by oval, thorny, whitish to greenish bracts that enclose several flower heads which each contain only one pinkish bud, opening into a white corolla. It contains but one species, Hecastocleis shockleyi, the only representative of the tribe Hecastocleideae, and of the subfamily Hecastocleidoideae. Its vernacular name is prickleleaf. It is confined to the southwestern United States.
Liabeae is a tribe in the plant family Asteraceae. It is endemic to the Neotropics, where it is most diverse in the northern and central Andes. The center of diversity is in Peru.
Didelta is a genus of shrubs of up to 1 or 2 meter high, with two known species in 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 two whorls of bracts, which are almost free from each other. The 3–5 outer bracts are protruding and triangular in shape, the inner about twice as many are lance-shaped and ascending. In Didelta, the centre of the head is taken by 3–5 clusters of bisexual yolk yellow disc florets, sometimes divided from each other by male disc florets, and is surrounded by one complete whorl of infertile yolk yellow ray florets. The common base of the flowerhead swells around the developing fruitlets, become woody and breaks into segments when ripe. The fruitlets germinate within this woody encasing. The species of the genus Didelta can be found in Namibia and South Africa. The genus is called salad thistle in English and slaaibos in Afrikaans.
Gymnarrhena is a deviant genus of plants in the family Asteraceae, with only one known species, Gymnarrhena micrantha. It is native to North Africa and the Middle East, as far east as Balochistan. Together with the very different Cavea tanguensis it constitutes the tribe Gymnarrheneae, and in the subfamily Gymnarrhenoideae.
Catamixis is a genus assigned to the family Asteraceae, with only one known species, Catamixis baccharoides, a low to medium height, ¾—1¾ m, shrub. It is native to a very small area of western Nepal and northern India in the Himalayas. It has approximately spoon-shaped, leathery leaves with distanced rounded teeth alternately set along straight, shyly branching stems, and carries many flower heads of about 1 cm, with a few creamy white florets, sometimes with a hint of violet, in corymbs at the end of the branches. Flowers and fruits can be found between March and May. Its vernacular name in Hindi is विषपत्री (vishpatri) or विश्पत्र (vishpatra).
Chionopappus is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, containing the single species Chionopappus benthamii. It is endemic to Peru, where it occurs at elevations up to 2500 meters in the central part of the country. It is also sometimes found in the lomas of northern Peru, a type of moist oasis formed by fog that accumulates along the hills in the coastal desert region.
Anastraphia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It includes 33 species native to the Caribbean, including Cuba, Hispaniola, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The Onoserideae are a tribe of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.
The Nassauvieae are a tribe of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.
Vicki Ann Funk was an American botanist and curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, known for her work on members of the composite family (Asteraceae) including collecting plants in many parts of the world, as well as her synthetic work on phylogenetics and biogeography.
Gymnarrhenoideae is a subfamily within the family Asteraceae, with only one tribe, the Gymnarrheneae. Two very different species have been assigned to it, Gymnarrhena micrantha, a winter annual from the deserts of North-Africa and the Middle-East, and Cavea tanguensis, a perennial herb that grows on scree near streams and glaciers in the Eastern Himalayas. These species have very little in common, other than having two types of flower heads and sharing a tendency towards dioecism. Both also have basal leaf rosettes, stretched leaves, with few spaced teeth on the margin, and both lack spines and latex.
