Description: Annual to perennial herbs, rarely woody at base.
Leaves opposite and sessile, simple or pinnate, often in non-flowering rosettes.
Heads long-pedunculate; involucral bracts herbaceous, in 1–3 rows. Receptacle hemispherical to cylindrical; receptacle bracts usually linear-lanceolate. Epicalyx cylindrical, ribbed. Calyx with 5 bristle-like lobes, with fine hairs and glands, persistent in fruit. Corolla with 5 unequal lobes and a short tube, usually longer in marginal than central flowers.
Fruit an achene, ellipsoid.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 67 species, Eurasia, Macaronesia to N. Africa, Eritrea to S. Africa. Australia: 2 species (naturalized), all States except Qld. & N.T.
Text by L. Retter
Taxon concept:
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