Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves opposite, divided or
compound, namely 2-3-pinnatisect, 3-foliolate or pinnate. Leaflets or lobes varying from linear to broadly ovate. Capitula usually radiate. Phyllaries in 2 series; outer herbaceous, inner usually scarious. Receptacular scales present. Ray florets neuter, sometimes 0; disk florets bisexual. Rays yellow,
orange, golden, white or 0. Achenes bilaterally flattened or
3-4(-5)-angled, linear to broadly obovate; margin often thickened
or winged. Pappus of 0-5 barbed (forwardly or backwardly)
bristles. Worldwide: 340 species, cosmopolitan, most in the New World but 63 species in Africa. Zimbabwe: 0 cultivated taxa. |
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