Asteraceae
Genera : 1,100 Species: 20,000

Links to gennus image directories

Achillea	Adenostyles	Agoseris	Ambrosia
Anaphalis	Antennaria	Anthemis	Arctium
Artemisia	Aster	Balsamorhiza	Baccharis
Barnadesia	Bellis	Bidens	Cacalia
Carduus	Celmisia	Centaurea	Chaenactis
Chrysanthemum	Cicerbita	Cichorium	Cirsium
Coreopsis	Crepis	Cynara	Dahlia
Doronicum	Echinacea	Encelia	Erechtites
Erigeron	Eupatorium	Gaillardia	Galinsoga
Gnaphalium	Grindellia	Gutierrezia	Haploppappus
Helenium	Helianthus	Heliopsis	Hieracium
Homogyne	Hulsea	Hymenoxys	Hypochoeris
Kuhnia	Lactuca	Leontopodium	Liabum
Liatris	Ligularia	Montanoa	Porophyllum
Prenanthes	Pseudogynoxys	Raoulia	Ratibida
Rhaponticum	Rudbeckia	Senecio	Silphium
Solidago	Taraxacum	Townsendia	Tragopogon
Trixis	Verbesina

Distribution: Cosmopolitan, yet under represented in tropical rainforest.

Economic Uses: The large size of this family and the presence of secondary compounds in abundance has mademany species useful medicinally worldwide. Many food plants also come from this family as well as a large variety of ornamentals.

Defining Features of Interest: The family has a distinctive floral structure, with heads of many small flowers resembling one large 'discoid' flower. This results in a specialized terminology for the inflorescence. The family has been divided into two subfamilies; the Chicorioideae and the Asteroideae with a number od tribes assigned to each.

Fossil Evidence: Fossil pollen and a fossilized head in the Oligocene.