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, 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.
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, whose round flower heads in combination with the ligules look like the Sun. 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.
Harold Ernest Robinson was an American botanist and an entomologist.
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.
Helianthella, the little sunflower, is a genus of North American plants in the family Asteraceae.
Pseudogynoxys is a genus of flowering plant in the groundsel tribe within the sunflower family, native to North and South America.
Hulsea is a small genus of North American flowering plants in the family Asteraceae known commonly as alpinegold.
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).
Wyethia is a genus of North American flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.
Psilostrophe, the paperflowers is a genus of North American plants in the sneezeweed tribe within the sunflower family.
Fireweed is a perennial herbaceous plant in the willowherb family (Onagraceae).
Silphium integrifolium is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Its common names include rosinweed, whole-leaf rosinweed, entire-leaf rosinweed, prairie rosinweed, and silflower. It is native to eastern North America, including Ontario in Canada and the eastern and central United States as far west as New Mexico.
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.
Dugesia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.
Chrysactinia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Mexico and to the southwestern United States.
Agnorhiza is a small genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae described as a genus in 1998. Its species had previously been considered members of either Wyethia or Balsamorhiza. The plants are native to California, with the range of one species (A. ovata) extending into northern Mexico. They are perennial herbs with sunflower-like flower heads 1 to 4 centimeters wide.
Artemisia pattersonii, also known as Patterson sagewort or Patterson's wormwood, is a species of North American plants in the sunflower family. It grows in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Chrysactinia mexicana, common name Damianita daisy, is a species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Mexico and to the southwestern United States. It has been found in Texas, New Mexico, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, México State, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Tamaulipas, and Veracruz.
Cotula mexicana, also known as Mexican brassbuttons, is a plant species in the sunflower family. It is widespread in South America and also found in central Mexico and parts of the United States.
