Common Name: SUNFLOWER FAMILY
Habit: Annual to tree. Leaf: basal and/or cauline, alternate, opposite, rarely whorled, simple to 2+ × compound. Inflorescence: 1° inflorescence a head, resembling a flower, of several types (see below), 1--many in generally +- cyme-like cluster; each head generally with +- calyx-like involucre of 1--many series of phyllaries (involucre bracts); receptacle of head flat to conic or columnar, paleate (bearing paleae = receptacle bracts) or epaleate; flowers 1--many per head. Flower: bisexual, unisexual, or sterile, +- small, of several types (see below); calyx 0 or modified into +- persistent pappus of bristles, scales, and/or awns; corolla radial or bilateral (0), lobes generally (0)3--5; stamens 4--5, filaments generally free, generally fused to corolla at tube/throat junction, anthers generally fused into cylinder around style, anther base generally rounded or cordate (deeply sagittate or with tail-like appendages), tip (= flattened appendage) generally projecting beyond pollen sac; pistil 1, 2-carpeled, ovary inferior, 1-chambered, 1-seeded, placenta basal, style 1, tip generally +- 2-branched (except in some staminate disk flowers), branch tips truncate or generally bearing +- brush-like appendages; stigmas 2, generally on adaxial faces of style branches. Fruit: achene (also called a cypsela) (drupe in Chrysanthemoides), cylindric to ovoid, sometimes compressed, generally deciduous with pappus attached.
Genera In Family: +- 1500 genera, 23000 species: worldwide, many habitats. Note: Flower and head types differ in form and sexual condition. A disk flower has a generally radial corolla, with a cylindric tube, expanded throat, and generally 5 lobes. Disk flowers are generally bisexual and fertile but occasionally staminate with reduced ovaries. Discoid heads comprise only disk flowers. A radiant head is a variant of a discoid head, with peripheral disk flower corollas expanded, often bilateral. A ray flower corolla is bilateral, generally with a slender tube and flattened petal-like ray (single lip composed of generally 3 lobes). Ray flowers are generally pistillate or sterile (occasionally lacking styles). Radiate heads have peripheral ray flowers and central disk flowers. Disciform heads superficially resemble discoid heads, with pistillate or sterile flowers that lack rays, together with or separate from disk flowers. A ligulate flower is bisexual, with a bilateral, generally ephemeral corolla and 5-lobed ligule. Liguliflorous heads comprise only ligulate flowers. See glossary p. 31 for illustrations of family characteristics. Echinops sphaerocephalus L., Gaillardia aristata Pursh, Gaillardia pulchella Foug., Hymenothrix loomisii S.F. Blake, Tagetes erecta L., Thelesperma megapotamicum (Spreng.) Kuntze are waifs. Melampodium perfoliatum Kunth, historic urban waif. Ageratum conyzoides L., Guizotia abyssinica (L. f.) Cass., Santolina chamaecyparisus L., orth. var. are rare or uncommon escapes from cultivation. Dyssodia papposa, Ismelia carinata (Schousb.) Sch. Bip. [Chrysanthemum carinatum Schousb.], Mantisalca salmantica (L.) Briq. & Cavill. are historical or extirpated waifs in California. Inula helenium L. not documented in California. Taxa of Aster in TJM (1993) treated here in Almutaster, Doellingeria, Eurybia, Ionactis, Oreostemma, Sericocarpus, Symphyotrichum; Chamomilla in Matricaria; Bahia in Hymenothrix; Cnicus in Centaurea; Conyza in Erigeron and Laennecia; Dugaldia in Hymenoxys; Erechtites in Senecio; Hymenoclea in Ambrosia; Lembertia in Monolopia; Osteospermum ecklonis in Dimorphotheca; Picris echioides in Helminthotheca; Prionopsis in Grindelia; Raillardiopsis in Anisocarpus and Carlquistia; Schkuhria multiflora in Picradeniopsis; Trimorpha in Erigeron; Venidium in Arctotis; Viguiera in Aldama and Bahiopsis; Whitneya in Arnica. Amauriopsis in TJM2 (2012) treated here in Hymenothrix; Arida in Leucosyris; Bahia in Picradeniopsis; Eucephalus in Doellingeria.
Unabridged Note: Largest family of vascular plants in California and of eudicots globally.
eFlora Treatment Author: David J. Keil, except as noted
Scientific Editor: David J. Keil, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Habit: Annual, taprooted; often strongly scented. Stem: decumbent to erect, 1--several from base, 2--90 cm, simple or generally +- openly branched, distally glabrous or sparsely hairy to woolly, often glandular. Leaf: simple, alternate, entire to pinnately lobed; basal generally withered at flower (persistent), petioled or sessile, 4--11 cm, linear to oblanceolate or spoon-shaped, lobes (if present) toothed; cauline sessile (occasionally clasping), reduced distally on stem, 1-veined, linear to ovate or obovate, glabrous or sparsely hairy to woolly, occasionally with stalked or bead-like sessile glands. Inflorescence: heads radiant, generally slender-peduncled in open cyme- or panicle-like clusters (+- sessile in spike- or head-like clusters); involucre 4--13 mm diam, narrowly cylindric or fusiform to obconic or hemispheric; phyllaries 10--55, graduated in 4--8 series, erect or recurved, persistent, spreading or reflexed in age, texture leaf-like or scarious (papery), tips green or +- purple-tinged, glabrous or sparsely hairy to woolly, often glandular; receptacle slightly convex, shallowly pitted, epaleate. Disk Flower: 3--40; corolla funnel-shaped to tubular, white, pink, lavender, or yellow, limb +- palmately expanded in peripheral flowers, lobes erect or spreading; anther tip awn-like; style branches 0.8--2.5 mm, appendage 0.3--1.3 mm.; colored band inside each present or not, lobes 5; anther base +- rounded; style-branch appendage lanceolate or short-triangular with abrupt point 0.1--0.4 mm. Fruit: 1--5 mm, cylindric to obconic, not compressed, smooth or obscurely 5--10 nerved, faces tan or mottled purple-brown, densely puberulent to long-soft-hairy; pappus of 3--55 persistent bristles, free, fused at base, or fused throughout into awns, occasionally reduced to crown, white, tan, or +- red. Chromosomes: 2n=10, except Lessingia nemaclada, 2n=10,12.
Etymology: (C.F. Lessing, German-born botanist, 1809--1862) Note: Other species now treated in Benitoa and Corethrogyne.
eFlora Treatment Author: Staci Markos
Reference: Markos 2006 FNANM 20:452--458
Unabridged Reference: Markos & Baldwin 2001 Syst Bot 26:168--183