Description: Bushy erect annual or rarely perennial herbs.
Leaves opposite below, alternate above; deeply dissected, lobes narrow.
Heads terminal and axillary, sometimes arranged in corymbs, pedunculate; heads campanulate or turbinate, small; involucral bracts 5–8; receptacle scales absent. Ray florets if present 1–3, rarely more, female, fertile. Disc florets bisexual, tubular below, campanulate above, 5-toothed; anthers with obtuse apical appendage, base obtuse or minutely sagittate; style branches flattened, obtuse or with short acute apical appendage.
Achenes narrow, obpyramidal; 4- or 5-ribbed, ribs with stiff minutely bifurcate hairs; pappus of 8–10 hyaline scales, the midrib becoming an awn in some species.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 10 species, tropical & subtropical America. Australia: 1 species (naturalized).
Text by L. Murray
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Schkuhria pinnata |
|
