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.
Monoptilon bellioides, the desert star, also called Mojave desertstar, is a desert flowering plant in the family Asteraceae.
Layia platyglossa, commonly called coastal tidytips, is an annual wildflower of the family Asteraceae, native to western North America.
Packera obovata, commonly known as roundleaf ragwort, spoon-leaved ragwort, roundleaf groundsel, or squaw-weed, is an erect perennial herb in the Asteraceae (aster) family native to eastern North America. It was previously called Senecio obovatus. Basal and lower leaves are obovate with toothed margins, while upper leaves are pinnately divided. The ray flowers are yellow and the disk flowers orange-yellow, the inflorescences being held well above the foliage.
Helenium autumnale is a North American species of poisonous flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Common names include common sneezeweed and large-flowered sneezeweed.
Carduus crispus, the curly plumeless thistle or welted thistle, is a biennial herb in the daisy family Asteraceae. C. crispus is native to multiple different countries all over Europe and Asia, but it is also naturalized in North America. These plants have specific environmental conditions such as the type of soil and the amount of sunlight that must be met before they can grow. There is a breakdown of the species Carduus crispus that tells us the origin and the meaning of each part of the species' name. The leaves, flowers and fruit of this species are described, as well as, the medicinal and wildlife uses.
Rafinesquia neomexicana is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Common names include desert chicory, plumeseed, or New Mexico plumeseed. It has white showy flowers, milky sap, and weak, zigzag stems, that may grow up through other shrubs for support. It is an annual plant found in dry climate areas of the southwestern deserts of the US and northwestern deserts of Mexico.
Leucosyris arida is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae, known by the common names arid tansyaster, desert tansyaster, and Silver Lake daisy. It is native to the very arid deserts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, and usually looks straggly and not very attractive. But in years with very heavy rainfall, it fills out and becomes rounded and bush like.
Xanthisma gracile is a species of annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names slender goldenweed and annual bristleweed.
Pyrrhopappus is a genus of North American plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. Desert-chicory is a common name.
Ratibida pinnata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names pinnate prairie coneflower, gray-head coneflower, yellow coneflower, and prairie coneflower. It is native to the central and eastern United States and Ontario in Canada.
Lupinus pusillus, the rusty lupine or dwarf lupine, is an annual plant in the legume family (fabaceae) found in the Colorado Plateau and Canyonlands region of the southwestern United States(California), and north to Montana.
Ambrosia bidentata, the lanceleaf ragweed, is a North American species of plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the central and eastern parts of the United States, primarily the Mississippi Valley and the eastern Great Plains.
Elephantopus carolinianus, with the common names Carolina elephantsfoot or leafy elephant's foot, is a species of flowering plant in the Asteraceae family. It is native to the south-central and southeastern United States.
Solidago rupestris , the rock goldenrod or riverbank goldenrod, is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is found in the eastern United States, found today in the States of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. There are historical records of it formerly growing in Indiana and Pennsylvania as well, but these populations now appear to have been extirpated.
Solidago sphacelata, commonly known as false goldenrod or autumn goldenrod, is a North American species of goldenrod in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the eastern United States from Virginia and the Carolinas west as far as Illinois and Mississippi.
Hieracium paniculatum, the Allegheny hawkweed, is a North American plant species in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. It grows only in the eastern United States and eastern Canada, from Nova Scotia west to Ontario, Michigan, and Indiana south as far as Georgia.
Iva asperifolia, the Pensacola marsh elder, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It grows in the south-central United States. It has also been found in the state of Veracruz in eastern Mexico.
Pyrrhopappus pauciflorus, commonly known as smallflower desert-chicory, Texas false dandelion or Texas dandelion, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the southern United States and northern Mexico. It is a weedy annual found in prairies, clay soils and disturbed habitats such as fields and sidewalks.
