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.
Erica is a genus of roughly 857 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. The English common names heath and heather are shared by some closely related genera of similar appearance. The genus Calluna was formerly included in Erica – it differs in having even smaller scale-leaves, and the flower corolla consisting of separate petals. Erica is sometimes referred to as "winter heather" to distinguish it from Calluna "summer heather".
Tagetes is a genus of 50 species of annual or perennial, mostly herbaceous plants in the family Asteraceae. They are among several groups of plants known in English as marigolds. The genus Tagetes was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.
Gerbera L. is a genus of plants in the Asteraceae (Compositae) family. The first scientific description of a Gerbera was made by J. D. Hooker in Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1889 when he described Gerbera jamesonii, a South African species also known as Transvaal daisy or Barberton daisy. Gerbera is also commonly known as the African daisy.
Harold Ernest Robinson was an American botanist and entomologist.
Trixis is a genus of shrubs in the family Asteraceae, native to North and South America including the West Indies.
Chuquiraga is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The genus is distributed in the Andes from Colombia to Chile, with most species occurring in Patagonia.
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.
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 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.
Pieter B. Pelser is a lecturer in Plant Systematics and the curator of the herbarium at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. One research interest is the evolutionary history of the tribe Senecioneae, one of the largest tribes in the largest family of flowering plants. He wrote the most recent attempt to define and delimit this tribe and its problematic founding species Senecio. He also studies insects that eat these plants (Longitarsus) which contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids and what makes them choose which plants they eat.
Sigesbeckia is a genus of annual plants in the family Asteraceae. St. Paul's wort is a common name for some of the species. Sigesbeckia is widely distributed and has been traditionally used for the management of chronic diseases, including arthritis.
Mairia is a genus of perennial herbaceous plants assigned to the family Asteraceae. All species have leathery, entire or toothed leaves in rosettes, directly from the underground rootstock, and one or few flower heads sit at the top of the stems that carry few bracts. These have a whorl of white to mauve ray florets surrounding yellow disc florets in the centre. In general, flowering only occurs after the vegetation has burned down. The six species currently assigned to Mairia are endemic to the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. Some of the species are called fire daisy in English and vuuraster in Afrikaans.
Perdicium is a genus of plants in the tribe Mutisieae within the family Asteraceae. It includes two species native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa.
Berkheya is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is distributed in tropical Africa, especially in southern regions. Of about 75 species, 71 can be found in South Africa.
Burkartia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, containing the single species Burkartia lanigera. It is endemic to southern Argentina.
Tilesia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Species in the genus Tilesia are found in Cuba and South America.
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.
