Learn How to Identify the Nyctaginaceae Four O-Clock Family
Mirabalis multiflora of the Nyctaginaceae family has an exserted style and stamens, and a fused floral tube with five tepal lobes. Page Last Updated on Oct, 1, 2026.
Introduction to the Nyctaginaceae, or Four O-Clock Family
Welcome to the Nyctaginaceae, or four o’clock family, best known for the garden four o’clocks, which look similar to Mirabalis multiflora above, although it is primarily a wildflower species. This family is interesting because it grows in wildly different climates, mostly centered around the neotropics, but it is also often found in arid and semi-arid climates and can be seen as far north as Canada. It also has very unique and interesting fruits, bracts, and stigma shapes, which are all highly variable and important diagnostic features at the tribal and genus level, as you’ll see below.
If you’re new to plant morphology, the guide immediately below is a perfect beginner’s description if you are keen to learn how to identify the Nyctaginaceae, or Four O’Clock, family, with no need to know any scientific jargon.
Below the guide, you’ll find morphology photos to help you identify the features of the Nyctaginaceae family, information on uses and wildlife values, and pictures of individual four o’clock species I have photographed in North America, organized by tribes, so you can start to see the relationships within the family as well.
For researchers or those wanting to learn even more, further down the page is a Scientific Botanical Description with botanical terms and my genus-level distribution data throughout North, Central, and South America.
Beginner’s Guide to the Four O-Clock (Nyctaginaceae) Family
Leaves and Stemsof the Four O-Clock Family
The four o’clock family vary in form from trees to woody vines and shrubs and annual and perennial herbs, often with stems that are swollen or jointed at the nodes, sometimes with sticky glands. They are found in a wide range of environmental conditions.
Leaves are mostly in opposite pairs, with one member of the pair often noticeably larger than the other, but sometimes they are alternately arranged or clustered in groups, may or may not have leaf stalks, and lack appendages at the leaf base (stipules). The leaves are simple (never compound), and the blade is entire or somewhat toothed, rarely lobed, and typically has hairs on its surface that are often sticky and trap sand, debris, and bugs on them; needle-like crystals may also be visible in the leaves.
Flowersof the Four O-Clock Family
Four o’clock members mostly have bisexual flowers with both male (stamens) and female (style, stigma, and ovary) organs found in the same flower. Flowers are solitary or aggregated in various inflorescences that are usually subtended by bracts of varying size, shape, color, etc., which is diagnostic at the tribal level.
Flowers range from minute to very large and are mostly regular with radial symmetry, although some bilateral lineages are seen. The flowers are strictly without true petals, having only one whorl of perianth, although it is usually petal-like and functions as petals do. The single whorl is always fused into a tube at the base that persists in the fruit, with usually five tepal lobes.
Reproductive Featuresof the Four O-Clock Family
There are usually 5 fertile stamens, though there can be more or less and may be infertile in rare lineages with functionally unisexual flowers. Filaments are threadlike and fused only at the very base into a ring. This family is famous for having some of the largest pollen grains among all flowering plants.
Four o’clocks have strictly one superior ovary per flower, attached above the point where the tepals attach, but may be very reduced in rare functionally unisexual flowers. There is one usually terminal style with highly diverse stigmas that are also diagnostic at the tribal level.
Fruitsof the Four O-Clock Family
The fruits of the four o’clock family are very unique. They are strictly 1-seeded dry fruits (achene or utricle), but their dispersal unit includes the persistent perianth (tepal tube) that remains, usually fused to the pericarp. The persistent perianth produces unique and highly variable fruits that may be dry, leathery, papery, or covered with sticky prickles; they may have wings or warts or they may be fleshy in woody lineages that use bird dispersal mechanisms.
General Morphology of Nyctaginaceae in North America
Floral, Bract, and Fruit Morphology of Nyctaginaceae in North America
Some Species of Nyctaginaceae Found in North America
Boldoeae Tribe
Salpianthus arenarius—Cats Tongue or gyayabillo (Mexico)
Salpianthus arenarius is a bushy perennial herb or subshrub often growing wider than tall with roughly egg-shaped leaves with pointy tips and covered with short sticky or slightly rough hairs. The flowers are small, greenish-white, and trumpet-shaped with 2-4 long threadlike stamens protruding (visible in the photo). The base of the flower (seen here in purplish-pink) persists as a loose coat around the mature tiny nut-like fruit inside, characteristic of the Boldoeae tribe. This plant is strictly endemic to Mexico, and I found this one at Paco’s Flora y Fauna Reserve in Mazatlan, Sinaloa.
Bougainvilleeae Tribe
Bougainvillea glabra—Lesser Bougainvillea
Lesser bougainvillea is a vigorous scrambling shrub or woody vine that climbs using sharp, curved thorns. Visible are its showy hot pink floral bracts, which are characteristic of the genus and much of the tribe. The true flowers are the creamy yellowish flowers that are visible inside the showy bracts. While strictly native to South America, primarily in Brazil, it is now cultivated in subtropical and tropical regions around the globe and has naturalized in many areas, including southern Mexico. This one was cultivated in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, but I have also seen what looked like garden escapees growing there as well.
Nyctagineae Tribe
Abronia angustifolia—Narrow-leaved Sand Verbena
Narrow-leaved Sand Verbena is a curious Nyctaginaceae member that forms sticky leaf annual or short-lived perennial herbaceous mats on open sand, like this one that was growing in the dunes at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, USA. Right beneath the ball-like cluster of slender, fragrant flowers is a cluster of papery or green bracts (involucre) that are not fused together. The narrow, more or less lance-shaped leaves are covered in sticky hairs that make sand grains stick to them. The fruit is a papery, tapered anthocarp with wings suitable for wind dispersal. It is primarily native to the Chihuahuan Desert of the southwestern USA and northern Mexico.
Allionia incarnata—Trailing Windmills
This lovely flower comes from Allionia incarnata, a trailing perennial or warm-season annual herb that spreads across the ground over gravel, roads, and desert crusts. The windmill name comes from the flowers that at first glance look like a single flower with lots of petals but in fact are a tight cluster of 3 separate bilaterally symmetric flowers, each producing a 3-lobed fan-shaped petaloid limb, with the whole psedanthium itself being held in a 3-lobed cup of green bracts. Leaves are in opposite pairs, but one leaf is almost always noticeably larger than the other of the pair. This plant is native throughout the American continents in arid and semi-arid areas from the southwestern USA (where this one was) south to Peru and Argentina.
Commicarpus scandens—Bushy Spiderling
This cute little Nyctaginaceae is Commicarpus scandens, a sprawling perennial herb or vine with slender, pale green to straw-colored, clambering branches with swollen nodes. The pale yellow-green bell flowers are held in loose umbels, and their opposite leaves are heart-shaped to spade-shaped, mostly hairless, with wavy margins and pointy tips. The fruits are club-shaped and topped in large round “warts.” It is native throughout the American continents in arid and semi-arid areas from the southwestern USA south to Peru; this one was at Paco’s Flora Y Fauna Reserve in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Mirabilis multiflora—Colorado Four O’Clock
Colorado four o’clock is a robust, mounded perennial herb or subshrub from a deep, massive tuberous taproot. It produces showy masses of large magenta trumpet-shaped flowers, with 3-6 flowers held in an involucral cup that bloom one after another. The opposite leaves are somewhat fleshy and thick and often have a waxy bloom. The fruit is a smooth or faintly 10-ribbed anthocarp without wings or glands. It is native to the semiarid interior of the American Southwest and northern Mexico in open scrub, washes, hillsides, and pinyon-juniper woodlands. This one was in open desert scrub near Carrizozo, New Mexico.
Pisonieae Tribe
Pisonia capitata—Mexican devil’s claws
Pisonia capitata is a sprawling, thicket-forming, woody shrub or small tree with clambering branches armed with stout recurved spines that look like cat’s claws. It has tiny flowers densely packed into dense, rounded heads, and it is dioecious, producing separate male and female plants unlike most of the family. The fruits (anthocarps) are 5-angled with prominent stalked glands that secrete very sticky resin that entraps insects, small lizards, and small birds. It is mostly native to northwestern Mexico, with a small disjunct population in southern Arizona. This one was in Paco’s Flora y Fauna Reserve in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Uses of the Nyctaginaceae Family
While the Nyctaginaceae have no major agricultural uses globally, some do serve as staples or famine foods in some areas. The only semi-domesticated food crop is the mauka (Mirabilis extensa), a root vegetable of minor local importance in the Andes. Also, Boerhavia tuberosa has been consumed as a root vegetable in parts of Peru and Chile.
Numerous species are used horticulturally, however. Some of these species include the garden Four O’Clocks Mirabilis jalapa grown as ornamental plants, and several Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra, B. spectabilis, etc.) and Abronia are also commonly cultivated in warmer regions and are native to South America.
Mirabilis jalapa is sometimes used as a dye, and Navajo weavers used the dried flowers and roots of Mirabilis multiflora as a source of dye.
Many show gypsophyllia and are used as geo-botanical indicators and for mine reclamation.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Nyctaginaceae
The woody tribe Pisonieae act as primary ecological engineers in remote oceanic archipelagos and play key roles in nutrient cycling that drive terrestrial food webs and recharge nearshore reefs. Woody lineages sometimes also provide fleshy fruits eaten by birds and bats.
Many Nyctaginaceae members display mutualisms with hawkmoths, providing them with nectar sources while they provide essential pollination services.
Since many thrive in coastal and desert sand dunes, they also provide essential dune stabilization and create essential microhabitats for invertebrates and as nursery sites for more sensitive plant seedlings.
Many Nyctagineae members are restricted to calcium sulfate soils where few other plants can survive. There they act as foundation plants for specialized invertebrate communities, providing nectar, pollen, and foliage in otherwise ‘barren’ lands.
Taxonomy of the Nyctaginaceae Family
There are approximately 390-450 species in 30-33 genera within the Caryophyllales order of the core Eudicot clade. The number of genera varies depending on whether Neea and Neeopsis are included in Guapira, which modern phylogenetics suggests will happen. However, since I have distribution data for those two, and they are still conserved as genera on Plants of the World Online, I am also conserving them here until my sources are in agreement.
Furthermore, the number of species is variable since Guapira and Bpoerhavia contain dozens of unresolved names waiting for a modern revision.
An interesting point to note is that, historically, the Nyctaginaceae were considered primarily herbaceous desert plants that gave rise to a few woody tropical outliers, but molecular phylogenetics has turned that misconception around. Large canopy trees are actually the ancestral condition of the family, which then evolved into woody vines and shrubs before finally exploding into the herbaceous, involucrate, sphingophilous, and gypsophilic desert annuals/perennials (Nyctagineae).
Modern phylogenetic consensus (Douglas & Spellenberg 2010; Caryophyllales Network) recognizes no subfamilies, dividing the family into seven distinct tribes as follows.
Boldoeae Tribe
The Boldoeae is a small, morphologically distinct tribe that is restricted to the Neotropics. It produces small, regular, and typically apetalous flowers represented by a sepaloid or petaloid calyx, an unbranched style, and an ovary with a single basal ovule. The most distinguishing feature is the fruit, where the perianth base persists but is not fused to the fruit, unlike most of the family.
Genera of the Boldoeae Tribe
Boldoa (1), Cryptocarpus (1),Salpianthus (4).
Bougainvilleeae Tribe
The Bougainvilleeae are woody vines or climbing shrubs or spinescent arid-zone shrubs, often armed with axillary thorns or spines. Flowers are in 1-3-flowered dichasia or fascicles, often with showy, persistent, petaloid, membranous, or reticulate bracts that are easily recognizable, but sometimes they are reduced or deciduous. The fruit is a leathery to woody anthicarp, fusiform, 5-ribbed, or may have longitudinal wings. They are primarily native to South America, with a single xerophytic species endemic to southwestern Africa.
Genera of the Bougainvilleeae Tribe
Belemia (2), Bougainvillea (16), Phaeoptilum (1).
Caribeeae Tribe
The Caribeeae is a monospecific single-island endemic tribe of eastern Cuba. It is a compact subshrub or cushion-forming perennial herb with minute, opposite leaves, and solitary sessile flowers that are also minute. Its stipuliform interpetiolar sheath formed by connate leaf bases is unique in the Nyctaginaceae. The fruit is an achene closely enclosed with persistent perianth but without glands, wings, or ribs. It is extremely rare and possibly extinct.
Genera of the Caribeeae Tribe
Caribea (2).
Colignonieae Tribe
The Colignonieae are an early-diverging tribe of subshrubs, scandent or sprawling shrubs, or herbaceous perennials. They have glabrous, puberulent, or glandular stems, and strictly opposite leaves. Flowers are in unbelliform clusters or capitula with small bracts that do not form an involucre. The fruit is an anthocarp with 3-5 prominent longitudinal wings that are scarious, membranous, or chartaceous. They are a montane neotropical family located primarily in cloud forests of the Andes.
Genera of the Colignonieae Tribe
Colignonia (6).
Leucastereae Tribe
The Leucastereae are strictly a South American tribe, primarily endemic to eastern and central Brazil. They are arborescent or robust shrubby plants from small to large trees or multistemmed shrubs, often displaying anomalous secondary growth. Flowers are small to minute, with small inconspicuous bracts and dry anthocarps enclosed by a persistent perianth, longitudinally 5-ribbed, smooth, or brandly winged, and without glands. They are sister to all other Nyctaginaceae, showing that the ancestral Nyctaginaceae were woody and neotropical. Their woody nature has historically had them misclassified in other tribes or even families until it was resolved with molecular phylogenetics.
The Nyctagineae are predominantly annual or perennial herbs, suffrutescent perennials, or xerophytic subshrubs, often with starchy tuberous roots, stems with glandular trichomes, and leaves without stipules. Flowers are subtended by various bracts that are diagnostic at the generic level and range from small and deciduous to involucres to enlarged and colorful. Stamens vary from 1 to 30, usually 2 to 6, and the fruit is an anthocarp that is ribbed, sulcate, smooth, or expanded into scarious, hyaline, or papery longitudinal wings and often ornamented with multi-cellular, stipitate, or sessile mucilage-secreting viscously sticky glands that facilitate epizoochory or hydrochory. Many are also gypsophiles. They are a New World tribe, with the greatest diversity in Mexico, but have been introduced as pantropical and subtropical weeds.
The Pisonieae tribe are mostly woody trees, shrubs, and lianas with stout, recurved, or straight axillary thorns or spines in scandent taxa. Stems frequently exhibit anomalous secondary growth; leaves are variable but always lack stipules. Plants are mostly dioecious or functionally unisexual, with small flowers often with vestigial organs and small scaly bracts that never expand into a showy involucre. Fruits are mostly dry anthocarps with rows of prominent viscously sticky glands or armed with rows of prickly appendages, or they may be smooth and drupaceous. This is a pantropical and subtropical tribe.
Genera of the Pisonieae Tribe
Ceodes (20), Cephalotomandra (2 sometimes as syn. of Pisonia), Grajalesia (1), Guapira (75), Neea (91 sometimes included in Guapira),Neeopsis (1 sometimes included in Guapira), Pisonia (27), Pisoniella (1), Rockia (1).
Key Differences From Similar Families
The Nyctaginaceae are mostly confused with other apetalous Coaryophyllales lineages.
Nyctaginaceae and Phytolaccaceae both share a lack of petals, bearing a single perianth whorl, and produce curved embryos wrapping around central starchy perisperm. However, they can usually be differentiated by Nyctaginaceae’s usually opposite leaves, which are often visibly unequal, with one leaf larger than the other in the opposite pair, compared to Phytolaccaceae’s strictly alternate leaves. Furthermore, Nyctaginaceae have a single carpel in their ovaries, while Phytolaccaceae typically have 5-16 distinct or fused carpels.
The Nyctaginaceae are also confused with the Petiveriaceae, which is its sister family, sharing a solitary carpel, a single basal ovule, and lacking true petals. They can be differentiated by the alternate leaves of Petiveriaceae and their true naked berries rather than dry anthocarps or drupaceous fruits of the Nyctaginaceae. The Petiveriaceae also often emit a strong garlic or sulferous odor when crushed, and they bear small stipular prickles or glands.
The Eriogonoideae subfamily of the Polygonaceae are also sometimes confused since they share small flowers lacking true petals and hard single-seeded achenes, and they are often found in the same arid habitats in western North America. However, the Eriogonoideae have predominantly alternate or basal leaves rather than opposite, swollen nodes with glandular bands or hairs, and flowers with two distinct whorls of 3 instead of one whorl of 5.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Nyctaginaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Nyctaginaceae Family
The Nyctaginaceae range from trees, lianas, and erect or sprawling shrubs to annual or perennial herbs that may be self-supporting or climbing, often via recurved ancillary thorns or scandent branches. The stems are frequently swollen or articulated at the nodes and are sometimes equipped with viscous, glutinous internodal rings or bands (e.g., Anulocaulis, Boerhavia). They often grow from thickened, tuberous roots or woody taproots. Plants may be mesophytic, xerophytic, or halophytic.
The leaves are usually opposite, with members of the pair often unequal in size, or less often they are alternately arranged or fascicled on short shoots. They are petiolate to sessile, simple, without stipules, and strictly non-sheathing except in Caribea, where opposite petiole bases fuse into a distinctive sipuliform sheath.
The lamina is entire, repand, or sinuate–dentate (rarely lobed), pinnately veined, and cross-venulate except in herbaceous xerophytes, which may be subpalmate, and in fleshy taxa where secondary venuation is obscured.
Hairs are often present and are either eglandular or glandular, mostly multicellular and uniseriate, but complex stellate hairs are also rarely seen. The mesophyll and parenchymatous tissues typically contain calcium oxalate idioblasts bearing raphides (needle-like crystal bundles) and are often accompanied by druses or crystal sand.
Flowers of the Nyctaginaceae Family
The Nyctaginaceae plants are usually hermaphroditic or dioecious/functionally unisexual (bearing vestigial organs), and less often they may be gynodiecious or polygamomonoecious. Pollination is predominantly entomophilous via hawkmoths, bees, flies, wasps, and others. However, some woody neotropical clades are ornithophilous via hummingbirds, and cleistogamous flowers are frequently produced alongside normal chasmogamous flowers in herbaceous Nyctagineae. Less often, anemophily is seen in the reduced flowers of some members of the Pisonieae and Leucastereae.
Flowers are solitary or aggregated in cymes, panicles, thyrsoid corymbs, umbels, dense capitula, or rarely in spikes. Inflorescences are bracteate with varying bract morphology, a key diagnostic feature at the tribal level, from free and inconspicuous to leafy or petaloid and showy, true involucres, and pseudanthial.
Flowers range from minute to very large and showy and are predominately actinomorphic, although zygomorthpic lineages are sometimes seen. A nectariferous annular hypogynous disc often surrounds the ovary base.
The perianth is strictly uniseriate and functionally and visually petaloid, although true petals are absent. It is composed of 5 (3-10) connate tepals, often partitioned into a firm, persistent lower perianth tube that surrounds the ovary and remains to form the outer wall of the anthicarp in all tribes except Boldoeae, and an upper limb that is showy, campanulate, infundibuliform (funnelform), hypocrateriform (salverform), urceolate, or tubular.
Androecium of the Nyctaginaceae Family
Stamens are usually 5 (1–30) and usually all fertile except in dioecious members, where they are reduced to staminodes. They are opposite or alternate with the perianth lobes and arranged in 1 whorl; when numerous, they develop centrifugally. Small tooth-like pseudostaminodes alternate with the fertile stamens in the Colignonieae.
Filaments are filiform, unequal or subequal, ranging from inserted to long-exserted in length and inserted hypogynously on the margin or base of the nectariferous disk, free from or minimally adnate to the base of the perianth tube. They are usually monadelphous, but only at the extreme base are they connate, forming a membranous ring or cup.
Anthers are small, bithecous, globose to oblong, dorsifixed or basifixed, and introrse (or latrorse), dehiscing longitudinally via two lateral, longitudinal slits. The Nyctaginaceae family is famous for having some of the largest pollen among the angiosperms, frequently 70 to 180 micrometers in diameter, with prominent spinulose, echinate, or microreticulate ornamentation.
Gynoecium of the Nyctaginaceae Family
The gynoecium of the Nyctaginaceae is strictly monomerous with a single carpel. The ovary is superior, sessile to short-stipitate, 1-locular (1-celled), typically ellipsoid, ovoid, or fusiform, and is typically surrounded at the base by a fleshy annular or cupular nectariferous hypogynous disc. However, in staminate dioecious flowers, the gynoecium is highly reduced or rarely obsolete.
The style is solitary and usually terminal, filiform to capillary, ranging from included to long-exserted, and is straight, flexuous, or rarely declinate. Stigmas are terminal, dry, and papillate but otherwise exhibit important macroscopic diversity across tribes from capitate, discoid, or peltate in genera like Boerhavia, Mirabilis, Commicarpus, and Leucaster to penicillate, laciniate, or densely fimbriate in Colignonia and certain Pisonieae to linear, clavate, or papillose-thickened in Bougainvillea.
Placentation is strictly basal, with a solitary, erect to ascending, non-arillate ovule. Ovule orientation is campylotropous to amphitropous (rarely hemianatropous or anatropous); bitegmic but occasionally functionally unitegmic. Megasporangium crassinucellate.
Fruit of the Nyctaginaceae Family
The fruits of Nyctanginaceae are unique, with the true ovarian fruit being an indehiscent 1-seeded achene or utricle with a membranous, chartaceous, or crustaceous pericarp. However, the functional dispersal unit is almost always an anthocarp formed by the persistent, accrescent lower portion of the perianth tube that hardens, constricts, and encloses the ripening fruit, in different ways diagnostic at the tribal level. The persistent perianth is mostly adnate to the pericarp, and it is dry, leathery, or woody in most lineages but drupaceous in select lineages of the Pisonieae. The anthocarp itself often exhibits curious dispersal mechanisms, from viscid or glandular prickles to wings or geocarpic via downward-arching pedicels.
Seeds are solitary with a thin, unadorned testa. Nutritional reserves rely on starchy or mealy merisperm with true endosperm highly reduced.
Global Distribution of the Nyctaginaceae Family
The Nyctaginaceae are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the American continents, with only a few genera natively found outside of the Americas. In the American continents, a few genera are found in the temperate regions of Canada, with increasing diversity southward into the USA, Mexico, and Central and tropical South America, and then decreasing diversity again into temperate southern South America.
Distribution of the Nyctaginaceae in the American Continents
Canadian Nyctaginaceae Genera
Nyctagineae Tribe in Canada
Abronia 2 spp. of the former W NAM endemic genus native to BC; Mirabilis 4 spp. native to AB, SK, MB, and ON and introduced to BC and QC; Tripterocalyx 1 sp. NAM endemic genus native to AB and SK.
USA Nyctaginaceae Genera
Bougainvilleeae Tribe in the USA
Bougainvillea 1 sp. intro to TX and FL.
Nyctagineae Tribe in the USA
Abronia 19 spp. of former W NAM endemic gemus native to the W USA from ND S to TX and all W, most of which are endemic to the USA; Acleisanthes 12 spp. native to CA, AZ, NM, and TX, inc. 2 endemics, with 1 in the genus endemic to Somalia, Africa, and the rest endemic to SW NAM; Allionia 2 spp. native to CA, NV, AZ, CO, NM, TX, and OK; Anulocaulis 4 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, AZ, NM, and TX, inc. 1 narrow endemic of Death Valley, CA; Boerhavia 19 spp. pantropical genus native to the USA from N CA E to MD but excluding KS, IL, IN, OH, KY, WV, and DE, and inc. 1 narrow endemic of AZ; Commicarpus 1 sp. pantropical genus native to AZ, NM, and TX; Cyphomeris 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NM and TX; Mirabilis 25 spp. native to all of the USA, except FL and HI, where intro; Nyctaginia monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to NM and TX; Okenia monospecific N+C Americas endemic genus native to FL; Tripterocalyx 4 spp. of NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX, CO, WY, MT, ND, AD, NE, and KS, inc. 2 endemics.
Pisonieae Tribe in the USA
Guapira 3 spp. Americas genus native to FL; Pisonia 9 spp. pantropical genus native to AZ, TX, and FL, and intro and native HI; Rockia monospecific endemic genus native to HI.
Mexico Nyctaginaceae Genera
Boldoeae Tribe in Mexico
Boldoa monospecific neoendemic genus native to the Pacific and central Mexico; Cryptocarpus monospecific neoendemic genus with disjunct distribution in SW Mexico and SAM; Salpianthus 4 spp. Mexican endemic genus (unless Boldoa is included) native throughout all of Mexico.
Bougainvilleeae Tribe in Mexico
Bougainvillea 1 sp. intro to SE Mexico, appears introduced in Sinaloa, and widely cultivated elsewhere.
Nyctagineae Tribe in Mexico
Abronia ~ 3 spp. of the former W NAM endemic genus native to N+SW Mexico; Acleisanthes 14 spp. native to N Mexico S to Jal, with most diversity in NE Mexico, including 4+ endemics, with 1 sp. in the genus endemic to Somalia, Africa, with the rest in SW NAM; Allionia 2 spp. native to most of Mexico except the SE; Anulocaulis 4 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico, inc. 1 endemic of Coa; Boerhavia ~ 12 spp. pantropical genus native to all of Mexico, inc. 1-3 endemics; Commicarpus 4 spp. pantropical genus native to all of Mexico, inc. 3 narrow endemics of Mexico; Cyphomeris 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to much of Mexico except the SE; Mirabilis 31 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. 14 endemics; Nyctaginia monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico; Okenia monospecific N+C Americas endemic genus native to all of Mexico; Tripterocalyx 1 sp. of NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico.
Pisonieae Tribe in Mexico
Grajalesia monospecific endemic genus of S Mexico and N CAM; Guapira 3 spp. Americas genus native to all of Mexico; Neea 3-4 spp. Americas genus native to all of Mexico, inc. 1 endemic; Pisonia 6 spp. pantropical genus native to all of Mexico, inc. 2 endemic; Pisoniella 1 sp. native to NE+SW+C+Gulf Mexico, with disjunct ditribution in Bolivia and NW Argentina.
Neotropical Nyctaginaceae Genera
Boldoeae Tribe in the Neotropics
Boldoa monospecific neoendemic genus native to CAM, Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela; Cryptocarpus monospecific neoendemic genus with disjunct distribution in SW Mexico, Ecuador, the Galápagos, Peru, and Bolivia; Salpianthus 1 sp. Americas endemic genus native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, and the rest of the genus endemic to Mexico.
Bougainvilleeae Tribe in the Neotropics
Belemia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of N+SE Brazil; Bougainvillea 16 spp. former SAM endemic genus native to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and C+E+S Brazil, and intro to N Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, the Antilles, Trinidad-Tobago, Juan Fernandez Is., the Bahamas, and elsewhere.
Caribeeae Tribe in the Neotropics
Caribea monospecific single-island endemic genus/tribe of E. Cuba.
Colignonieae Tribe in the Neotropics
Colignonia 6 spp. Andes-endemic genus native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and NW Argentina.
Leucastereae Tribe in the Neotropics
Andradea monospecific narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Leucaster monospecific narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil; Ramisia monospecific narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Reichenbachia 2 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, C Brazil, Paraguay, and NE Argentina.
Nyctagineae Tribe in the Neotropics
Allionia 2 spp. native to Guatemala, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Venezuelan Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay; Boerhavia 20 spp. pantropical genus native to CAM, Bahamas, all Antilles, Trinidad-Tobago, the Galapagos, and tropical SAM S to C Chile and N Argentina except in N Brazil where it is intro, and also intro in Bermuda; Commicarpus 2 spp. pantropical genus native to Guatemala, Bahamas, Turks-Caicos Is., the Greater Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, inc. 1 W SAM + Galapagos endemic; Cuscatlania monospecific N CAM endemic genus of Honduras and El Salvador; Mirabilis 6 spp. native to CAM (exc. Panama, inc. 1 endemic to Guatemala), Colombia, Ecuador, Peru (1 endemic), Bolivia, N+C Chile, Argentina, intro Bahamas, Galapagos, Juan Fernandez Island, the Antilles (exc. the Netherland Antilles), Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay; Okenia monospecific N+C Americas endemic genus native to Honduras and Nicaragua.
Pisonieae Tribe in the Neotropics
Cephalotomandra 2 spp. narrow N neoendemic genus of Panama (1 endemic) and Colombia (1 endemic); Grajalesia monospecific endemic genus of S Mexico and N CAM; Guapira 65+ spp. Americas genus native to the Bahamas, Turks-Cacicos, the Antilles, Trinidad-Tobago, Mexico, CAM, and tropical SAM S to Bolivia, Paraguay, and S Brazil; Neea ~75 spp. Americas genus native and mostly endemic to CAM, the Greater Antilles, the Venezuelan Antilles, the Leeward Is., and tropical SAM S to Bolivia, Paraguay, and S Brazil; Neeopsis monospecific narrow endemic genus of Guatemala; Pisonia ~12-15 spp. pantropical genus native to CAM, the Bahamas, the Antilles (exc. Netherland Antilles), Colombia, Venezuela, Guayana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Argentina, and Paraguay; Pisoniella 1 sp. native to Bolivia and NW Argentina, with disjunct distribution in Mexico.
Patagonian South America Nyctaginaceae Genera
Bougainvilleeae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Bougainvillea 1 sp. former SAM endemic genus native to S Argentina.
Nyctagineae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Allionia 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Mirabilis 1 sp. possibly native to the northern limit of the region in S Argentina.
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
Douglas, N. A., & Spellenberg, R. W. (2010). A new tribal classification of Nyctaginaceae. Taxon, 59(3), 905–910. https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.593018
FNA 1993+. Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
Hernández-Ledesma, P., & Flores-Olvera, H. (2021). Nyctaginaceae. In: Flora del Bajío y de Regiones Adyacentes, Fascículo 223, 1–118. Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.
iNaturalist.org 2020+. https://www.inaturalist.org/. Accessed 2020-current. If you like plants or nature in general, please join the iNaturalist community and start sharing your observations with others. The data we track is invaluable for scientists like me wanting to track population changes over time.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. 2009+. Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO 2019+. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed 2020-current.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
29 Sep, 2026
18 Sep, 2026
Learn How to Identify the Droseraceae or Sundew Family
Drosera rotundifolia‘s hair-like “tentacles” are a common feature in the Droseraceae, used to capture insects. Page Last Updated on September, 18, 2026.
Introduction to the Droseraceae or Sundew Family
Welcome to the Droseraceae family, commonly known as the sundews, after Drosera’s unique sticky hair-like tentacles that glisten in the sun like dew but in reality are a deadly trap to small flies and other insects that get lured in, stuck, and digested and turned into plant food. Yes, the Droseraceae contains the Venus Flytrap, the family’s most famous member.
This is easily one of my top 5ish or so favorite plant families (because I have many!), in part because I love carnivorous plants. I also love bog plants that find ways to adapt in nutrient-poor, waterlogged environments where most land plants simply cannot even survive. But these little herbs thrive and play a key role in nutrient cycling in bog ecosystems, providing crucial nitrogen, phosphorous, and other minerals that are limited in bogs.
If you’re new to plant morphology, the guide below is a perfect beginner’s description if you want to learn how to identify the Droseraceae or sundew family, with no need to know any scientific jargon.
Below the guide, you’ll find morphology photos to help you identify the features of the Droseraceae family, information on uses and wildlife values, and pictures of individual Droseraceae species I have photographed in North America. However, for researchers or those wanting to learn even more, further down the page is a Scientific Botanical Description with botanical terms and my genus-level distribution data throughout North, Central, and South America.
Beginner’s Guide to the Sundew (Droseraceae) Family
Leaves and Stemsof the Sundew Family
The Sundew family are all carnivorous annual or perennial herbs that typically only inhabit bogs, except Aldrovanda, which is a free-floating carnivorous aquatic. They have small leaves, typically clustered at the bottom in a basal rosette.
The key defining feature is the presence of hair-like “tentacles” in Drosera that are covered in sticky mucilage that traps tiny insects, and the leaves curl up over them and slowly digest them. However, in Aldrovanda and Dionaea the leaves are smoother and flanked by teeth that rapidly snap shut to trap the prey.
Flowersof the Sundew Family
The flowers are mostly bisexual, containing both male (stamens) and female (style, stigma, and ovary) organs in the same flower, and are typically arranged in few flowered clusters on leafless stalks, but sometimes there is only a single flower.
There are usually 5 sepals that are mostly free and remain around the seeds in fruit. There are usually also 5 petals that may be white, pink, red, or rarely yellow or orange and also persist in fruit.
Reproductive Featuresof the Sundew Family
There are usually 5 fertile stamens, or equal in number to the number of petals, that are free (not fused) and are arranged alternating with the petals.
There are usually 3-5 styles that are often branched or divided, and the ovary is superior (attaches above the point of petal attachment).
Fruitsof the Sundew Family
Fruits are mostly small dry capsules enclosed in the persistent calyx and splitting open by 3-5 openings (valves). Seeds are small to dust-like in size.
Morphology of Droseraceae in North America
Some Species of Droseraceae Found in North America
Dionaea muscipula—Venus Flytrap
This familiar plant, the Venus Flytrap, can be found in nurseries and grocery stores all over North America, grown as a short-term novelty plant. It’s a restricted endemic species of the USA found naturally only in North and South Carolina, USA, where it grows in wet, acidic longleaf pine savannas. This one was in cultivation at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Georgia, USA.
Drosera anglica—Great Sundew
The Great Sundew is a circumboreal species widely found across North America, Europe, and Asia, easily identified by its upright, strap-like rosette of leaves and completely hairless flower stalk. You can usually find it growing in Sphagnum moss mats and fens. This one was in the Shuswap region of BC, Canada.
Drosera capensis—Cape Sundew
This sundew is native to the Cape region of South Africa; I found it growing in Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Georgia, USA. However, it is also introduced in California, USA, and in Australia. It’s unique for its long, narrow, ribbon-like leaves that often fall over and its long scape with pretty magenta or pink five-petaled flowers.
Drosera rotundifolia—Round-Leaved Sundew
The round-leaved or common sundaw is pretty characteristic of the genus and the Droseraceae as a whole—low-growing herbs with rounded leaves, covered with sticky “tentacles” to capture prey. These are circumboreal and widespread across the northern hemisphere. They are very common in BC, Canada, where this one was photographed.
Uses of the Droseraceae Family
Several of the Drosera species, and Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap), are widely used in the ornamental carnivorous plant market, generally micropropagated via tissue culture for retail.
Drosera has been used in herbal medicines in Europe and Asia for centuries, often to relieve dry coughs, bronchitis, and whooping cough. The tuberous forms were a staple diet for many Australian Aboriginal peoples who roasted them and ate the starchy roots.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Droseraceae
The Droseraceae prey on Diptera, small Formicidae, and micro-Lepidoptera (and aquatic micro-crustaceans and mosquito larvae with Aldrovanda), and by trapping thousands of insects per meter during summer blooms, they help modulate the local insect density.
Their presence in peatlands plays a major role in nutrient cycling, where the animal-derived nitrogen, phosphorous, and trace minerals directly enter the bog peat layer as leaf litter during seasonal senescence.
Despite being carnivorous, their flowers are on tall scapes, keeping pollinators safe from the traps, which is good, especially since they are deceptive in that not many actually produce nectar.
Many members of this family are endangered, with several species already facing local extirpation, and as a result, they are federally protected in many countries. For instance, Aldrovanda is a monospecific genus of Africa, Asia, and Australia that has been extirpated from Austria, the Baltic States, Bulgaria, Greece, Korea, and Uzbekistan, despite also being introduced in the United States.
Taxonomy of the Droseraceae Family
The Droseraceae are a small family made of just 3 genera and about 262 species. They are part of the Caryophyllales order of the core Eudicots. Since they are such a small family, and 2 of the 3 genera are monotypic, we don’t break them into subfamilies or tribes.
Genera of the Droseraceae Family
Aldrovanda (1), Dionaea (1), Drosera (260).
Key Differences From Similar Families
As a carnivorous bog plant with glandular “tentacles,” it is hard to confuse with most other plant families, except other carnivorous plants.
The Drosophyllaceae was historically classified in the Droseraceae, so it is no wonder it is the most commonly confused. Drosophyllum lusitanicum looks like a big, somewhat woody sundew with long, grass-like leaves covered in glistening red stalks. It was historically classified inside Droseraceae. You can tell them apart immediately by habitat: Droseraceae are bog plants that need waterlogged environments, while Drosophyllum only grows in dry, gravelly Mediterranean heath and pine barrens. Also, few of the Droseraceae grow such long leaves, and the few that do are not so stiff; the leaves of Drosophyllum are also incapable of curling around their prey, unlike Droseraceae.
The Lentibulariaceae, or butterwort family, could also be confused simply because they are carnivorous plants with sticky hairs and grow in many of the same environments. However, butterworts have smooth, succulent, or buttery-looking leaves and lack the long dewdrop tentacles. They also produce two-lipped spurred flowers, unlike the 5-petaled regular flowers of Droseraceae.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Droseraceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Droseraceae Family
The Droseraceae are all herbaceous annuals or perennials. Plants are hydrophytic or helophytic to mesophytic and are all carnivorous. They are usually rooted (fibrous, rhizomatous, or geophytic with stem tubers), but Aldrovanda is a free-floating, rootless aquatic.
Leaves are usually small and arranged either in basal rosettes (often) or alternate along the cauline stem, but rarely whorled in Aldrovanda. They are non-sheathing and may be stipulate (fimbriate, scarious, or forming a protective bud/hibernaculum) or exstipulate.
Vernation is predominantly adaxially circinate (coiled inward toward the upper surface), but non-circinate, conduplicate, or inflexed in various lineages. The lamina is simple, typically entire to flabellate, peltate, or spathulate, but deeply dichotomously divided in Drosera binata, or modified into a terminal, bi-lobed bivalve trap hinged along the midrib (Aldrovanda, Dionaea).
Carnivorous Trapping Mechanisms of the Droseraceae
Trapping mechanisms are active, exhibiting two distinct evolutionary syndromes:
Adhesive traps (Drosera): Lamina are adaxially covered with multicellular, vascularized glandular emergences (“tentacles”) that secrete an acidic, polysaccharide-rich mucilage with extreme viscoelastic properties. Prey retention induces thigmonastic and thigmotropic incurving of the emergences and, frequently, slow wrapping of the entire lamina mediated by auxin/acid growth and action potentials. Specialized taxa possess dry, bilaterally symmetric snap-tentacles capable of rapid, sub-second mechanical catapulting (Drosera glanduligera, sect. Bryastrum).
Snap-traps (Aldrovanda, Dionaea): Lamina are modified into a rapid bivalved closure mechanism flanked by marginal teeth or cilia. Closure is initiated when prey deflects multicellular sensory trichomes (trigger hairs) located on the adaxial surface, propagating electrical action potentials that prompt swift hydraulic leaf bistability and cell turgor changes within 100–200 ms.
Flowers of the Droseraceae Family
Plants are predominantly hermaphroditic, or rarely polygamodioecious or functionally dioecious. Pollination is mostly entomophilous, but the flowers can be autogamous to facultatively cleistogamous (Aldrovanda and high-latitude/alpine Drosera).
Flowers are aggregated in terminal or axillary, scapose, uncoiling scorpioid or helicoid cymes, or rarely are reduced to a single flower (Drosera uniflora, Aldrovanda) or branched into paniculate cymes in certain tuberous Drosera.
Flowers are actinomorphic, typically 5-merous, but sometimes 4-merous or pleiomerous (6-12) in certain Drosera. The perianth is biseriate, dichlamydeous, and isomerous.
The calyx is made of 5(4-8) sepals that are free or basally connate into a short tube. They are regular, imbricate, and persistent in fruit, often glanular-pilose or carinate.
The corolla is made of 5 (2-12) petals alternating with the sepals that are free or rarely basally coherent. They are imbricate or contorted, regular, shortly clawed to cuneate or obovate, membranous, marcescent, and twisting around the developing ovary after anthesis. Petals are typically white, pink, magenta, or red, rarely yellow or orange.
Androecium of the Droseraceae Family
The androecium is composed of 5(4–20) fertile stamens that are free of the perianth and of one another and are usually isomerous and alternating with the petals.
The filaments are filiform to flattened/subulate. Anthers are bithecal, tetrasporangiate, dorsifixed or basifixed, and they dehisc extrorsely via longitudinal slits. Pollen is shed in tetrads (predominantly in Drosera and Dionaea) or monads (Aldrovanda), polyforate or inaperturate.
Gynoecium of the Droseraceae Family
The Droseraceae gynoecium is made of a 3-5 carpeled superior ovary that is syncarpous and unilocular (rarely 3–5-locular with intruded parietal placentae).
There are 3–5 styles, rarely 2, that are free to the base or are basally connate, frequently bifid, flabellate, multi-branched, or fimbriate at the apices (variable and diagnostic in Drosera); often longer than the ovary. Stigmas are capitate, papillose, or branched.
Placentation is parietal or basal. There are 6 (2-5) or to 300+ (in some Drosera) ovules that are ascending, horizontal, or pendulous; anatropous, bitegmic, and crassinucellate (rarely subcrassinucellate).
Fruit of the Droseraceae Family
The fruit is usually dry (rarely slightly fleshy in submerged Aldrovanda) and enclosed within the persistent, marcescent calyx. Dehiscence is predominantly loculicidal via (2–)3–5 valves (Drosera) or may be an irregularly/tardily dehiscent capsule (Dionaea) or indehiscent to irregularly rupturing via rotting of the pericarp under water (Aldrovanda).
Seeds are few to numerous, small to minute and dust-like. They are copiously endospermic, fleshy or oily, and rich in lipids and proteins. Seeds are mostly wingless, but some seeds are flattened and winged.
Global Distribution of the Droseraceae Family
The Droseraceae family, while small, is cosmopolitan and found on all continents except Antarctica, from frigid to tropical climates, absent only in the desert regions. While widespread, they are highly threatened due to habitat destruction. Since they are able to supplement nutrient intake, especially nitrogen, by feeding on insects, it allows them to thrive in low-nutrient places like bogs, which are on the decline around the world.
Distribution of the Droseraceae in the American Continents
Canadian Droseraceae Genera
Drosera 9 spp. cosmopolitan genus are native in all of Canada, including the Arctic (and Greenland).
USA Droseraceae Genera
Aldrovanda 1 sp. introduced to NY, NJ, and VA; Dionaea monospecific former narrow USA endemic native to FL, SC, NC, and NJ, and introduced to WA, CA, GA, VA, and NY; Drosera 14 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to most of the USA, inc. AK and HI, but exc. NV, UT, AZ, SD, NE, and MO.
Mexico Droseraceae Genera
Drosera 2 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to SW+SE+Gulf Mexico.
Neotropical Droseraceae Genera
Dionaea monospecific former narrow USA endemic is introduced to Jamaica; Drosera ~40 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to CAM (exc. Guatemala and El Salvador), the Greater Antilles (exc. Haiti), Trinidad-Tobago, and most of SAM except N Chile and NW Argentina.
Patagonian South America Droseraceae Genera
Drosera 1 sp. cosmopolitan genus native throughout Patagonia and the Falkland Islands.
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA 1993+. Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
iNaturalist.org 2020+. https://www.inaturalist.org/. Accessed 2020-current. If you like plants or nature in general, please join the iNaturalist community and start sharing your observations with others. The data we track is invaluable for scientists like me wanting to track population changes over time.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. 2009+. Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
Patagonia Wildflowers: Wildflower Identification Site. https://patagoniawildflowers.org/ Accessed throughout the fall of 2020.
POWO 2019+. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed 2020-current.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
18 Sep, 2026
15 Sep, 2026
How to Identify the Caryophyllaceae or Pink Family
Silene latifolia of the Sileneae tribe of the Caryophyllaceae family Page Last Updated on September, 15, 2026.
Introduction to the Caryophyllaceae, or Pink Family
Welcome to the Caryophyllaceae plant family, also called the pink family, or occasionally the carnation family after perhaps their most famous member. However, there is so much more beauty, both in literal beauty and in plants that are so beautifully adapted that they can survive in the most extreme environments. In fact, Caryophyllaceae are often found in high alpine and arctic environments. One member is even one of only two flowering plants that are native to Antarctica—yes, Antarctica!
If you’re new to plant morphology, the guide below is a perfect beginner’s description if you are keen to learn how to identify the pink family, with no need to know any scientific jargon.
Below the guide, you’ll find morphology photos to help you identify the features of the pink family, information on uses and wildlife values, and pictures of individual Caryophyllaceae species I have photographed in North America, organized by tribe, so you can start to see the relationships within the family as well. But for researchers or those wanting to learn more, further down this page you’ll find the Scientific Botanical Description and my genus-level distribution data throughout North, Central, and South America.
Beginner’s Guide to the Pink (Caryophyllaceae) Family
Leaves and Stemsof the Pink Family
Pink members are almost always herbs, often mat-forming, sometimes dwarf subshrubs, but rarely they can be woody shrubs or climbing vines. They are frequently adapted to extreme environments, from high alpine, saline, and arid habitats to arctic and even Antarctic plants. One common characteristic is they often have noticeably swollen stem nodes.
Leaves are usually opposite, sometimes whorled, and rarely alternate. Blades are simple and often join at the base to form a short, continuous sheath. The leaf blade is always entire (not divided). Some tribes have small papery appendages called stipules at their base, while others do not.
Flowersof the Pink Family
The pink family flowers are mostly bisexual, containing both male (stamens) and female (ovary, stigma, and style) organs in the same flower, but other forms do occur, though plants with functionally female flowers still bear sterile stamens (staminodes). Flowers are often solitary, but sometimes in small clusters.
The flowers have radial symmetry with floral parts usually in 5s (sometimes 4s). There is usually a distinct calyx with 5(4) sepals, which may be free or joined into a tube, sometimes with prominent longitudinal veins. There are usually 5(4) petals, but sometimes they are absent. Petals are often clawed and may have distinct scale-like appendages where the claw and limb meet. Petals may be entire, toothed, or have a shredded appearance, or they may be so deeply split that they appear to have 10 petals instead of 5. Petals are usually white, pink, magenta, or red, rarely pale yellow, green, or buff, but they are never blue.
Reproductive Featuresof the Pink Family
Most pink family members have 10 or 8 stamens in 2 whorls, but sometimes they may only have 5 or 5, or just 1-3, mostly in flowers without petals. Many members have a prominent fleshy green nectary at the base of the outer stamens.
The flowers almost always have a superior ovary (with petals attached below the ovary) and may have 2-5 styles, which is an important diagnostic clue.
Fruitsof the Pink Family
The fruits of most members are dry capsules with numerous seeds that split open via a very characteristic number of valves or teeth, which is another useful clue at the tribe level. However, one-seeded dry fruits with a hardened surface that do not split open are also seen in some tribes.
Morphology of Caryophyllaceae in North America
First, here are some plant and leaf morphologies that are seen in the Carophyllaceae family.
Now, here is Caryophyllaceae flower morphology, showing some of the variation you will see between tribes in the field.
Some Species of Caryophyllaceae Found in North America
The Alsineae Tribe
Stellaria media—Common Chickweed
Most of us are familiar with this plant because it loves to grow in our gardens. It’s a weak-stemmed, sprawling, bright green annual with a distinctive line of white hairs running down the stem. It shows here one of the main features of the Alsineae tribe: 5 petals that are so deeply 2-cleft or bifid that they make it look like there are 10 petals. They also have free sepals seen here behind the petals. It is native to Eurasia but widely introduced across the world, including North America.
Torreyostellaria jamesiana—Tuber Starwort
Tuber starwort was, until very recently (2023), described as Pseudostellaria jamesiana and, before that, as Stellaria jamesiana, so you might find it under any of those names. You can tell this sprawling herb apart from other chickweed-like plants by its spindle-shaped tubers. Also, the petals vary from very shallowly notched to 2-lobed, as in this one, but are generally not deeply cleft to the base. They are native to western North America; this one was from Cloudcroft Rim Trail in New Mexico, USA.
The Arenarieae Tribe
Moehringia macrophylla—Largeleaf Sandwort
While the leaves may not look particularly large, for a sandwort with its often needle-like leaves, they are quite broad. Small solitary or paired white flowers bloom from the upper leaf axils. Unlike the Sileneae, the petals of the Arenarieae are entire. You can also see the green superior ovary in the center of the flowers. It is native mostly to boreal and montane North America and far eastern Asia. This one was in the Winsor Trail at the southern end of the Rocky Mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Caryophylleae Tribe
Saponaria officinalis—Common Soapwort
Common soapwort is a large perennial herb that forms dense colonies. It has stems with swollen nodes and opposite, sessile leaves with 3 prominent parallel veins. Flowers have 5 notched pinkish or white petals on long claws hidden inside the pinkish calyx tube and 2 threadlike styles to separate it from the similar Sileneae tribe. If you bruise the rhizomes (roots) in water, they lather like soap. They are native to Eurasia but widely introduced in North America. This one was in the Pierson area of Michigan, USA.
The Eremogoneae Tribe
Eremogone fendleri—Fendler’s Sandwort
Fendler’s sandwort is a tufted perennial herb with slender, grass-like leaves. The slender, wiry flowering stems bear clusters of bright white flowers with five entire petals that are rounded at the tips. Beneath these petals, the free sepals are sharp-pointed and rigid. This plant is native to western North America, typically at higher elevations. This one was in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico, USA.
The Paronychieae Tribe
Paronychia jamesii—James’ Nailwort
James’ narilwort is a very low-growing tufted perennial herb with heavily branched and wiry stems and narrow needle-like leaves. The most noticeable thing about this plant, like nearly all of its tribe, is the lack of petals. Instead, it has 5 yellow to yellow to brownish-green sepals, each tipped with a small spine. They are native to North America but are most common in the Great Plains on dry, open, rocky, or calcareous soils. This one was near Englewood, Kansas, USA.
The Polycarpeae Tribe
Drymaria cordata—Tropical Chickweed
This plant gets its name “tropical chickweed” because it shares the creeping stems and small white flowers with petals that are so deeply cleft that they look like 10 instead of 5. However, these have heart-shaped leaves accompanied by small, papery, shredded stipules at the leaf bases, just visible in the photo here between the leaves where the presence of stipules separate the Polycarpeae from most other tribes. This plant is native to the neotropics and subtropical Americas; this one was in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico.
The Sagineae Tribe
Sagina saginoides—Arctic Pearlwort
The Arctic Pearlwort (not to be confused with the Antarctic Pearlwort) is a tiny moss-like perennial that forms cushions only a few centimeters tall with opposite bright green, very narrow needle-like leaves without stipules, which is very characteristic of the Sagineae tribe. Solitary flowers are borne on relatively long, hairless, wiry stalks that nod slightly and usually have 5 white petals, but sometimes they are absent. This one was up a Forest Service Road in Squamish, BC, Canada.
The Sileneae Tribe
Silene laciniata—Cardinal Catchfly
The lovely cardinal catchfly is a sprawling herb with sticky glandular hairs that trap flies and give it its common name. The flowers, however, are its most noticeable feature, bright scarlet red with five spreading petals that are cut into fringe-like lobes (lacinate) and have a distinct coronal ring of scales around the center of the floral throat. Hummingbirds love the rich nectar in these flowers! This plant is native to southwestern North America, and this one was found in Nelson Canyon, New Mexico, USA.
The Sperguleae Tribe
Spergularia rubra—Red Sandspurry
Red sandspurry is a typical member of the Sperguleae tribe with its entire peals (never cleft or lobed), free sepals, and three styles, all seen here. However, it also has densely clustered leaves and possesses scarious stipules not visible here that are also very characteristic of its tribe. They are native to temperate Eurasia but have been widely introduced across the world. This one was in Edgewood, BC, Canada.
Uses of the Caryophyllaceae Family
There are numerous ornamentals in the Caryophyllaceae family, with 70+ species of Dianthus (including carnation), Gypsophila, Silene, etc., commonly grown for cut flowers in commercial flower arrangements as well as garden ornamentals.
The high levels of saponins, especially in the roots and seeds of the Caryophylleae and Sileneae tribes, have made them useful for domestic cleaning agents, emulsifying agents, and foaming agents, and some are also used in biomedical research.
Many members are known heavy-metal hyperaccumulators and are used for studying metal tolerance, adaptive genetics, and potential phytoremediation and even phytomining.
The family also has several cosmopolitan and agricultural weeds (Cerastium, Arenaria, Stellaria, etc.).
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Caryophyllaceae
The Caryophyllaceae is a cosmopolitan family that plays key ecosystem roles in extreme environments, particularly cushion- or mat-forming alpine/arctic species that create microclimates, nurse-plant effects, and thermal and moisture buffering.
Many have abundant nectar and display specialized pollination mutualisms, especially noctuid moths but also hummingbirds and other species. They also provide crucial early-season and high-elevation resources for numerous insects due to their ability to grow and bloom in extreme environments.
Many Caryophyllaceae are used as obligatory food hosts for numerous butterflies and moths. The abundant starchy seeds are staple food sources for granivorous birds.
Taxonomy of the Caryophyllaceae Family
The Caryophyllaceae is a large family with 106 currently accepted genera and 2,625 (POWO) to 3,000+ (Caryophyllales Network) species. Numbers vary as the family continues being resolved. As with all other plant families, modern molecular phylogenetics has deepened and clarified our understanding of how plants are related to each other.
As a result, there have been many changes over the years. Here, I default to the Caryophyllales Network (Korotkova, 2021), which is considered the most authoritative and up-to-date consensus on the Caryophyllaceae family. As always, as new information comes available, I will update this page so it contains the most up-to-date details.
Part of the recent reworking of the Caryophyllaceae was to remove the subfamilies altogether since they were heavily paraphyletic and polyphyletic. Instead, they created 11 tribes, now 12, since Thylacospermum has been recently segregated into its own tribe (Thylacospermeae) rather than being placed within Eremogoneae or incertae sedis.
Alsineae Tribe
The Alsineae is a diverse tribe made mostly of slender, creeping, or erect annual or perennial herbs, but geophytes and climbers are also seen. Leaves are strictly opposite and have no stipules. The mostly 5-merous (sometimes 4-merous) flowers have white (rarely green or absent) petals that are characteristically deeply bifid almost to the base, appearing like 10 petals instead of 5. The superior ovary has 3 or 5 styles (rarely 2) with diagnostic fruit characters in most where the capsule dehisces apically by twice as many valves or teeth as there are styles. They are primarily holarctic and cold-to-warm temperate but extend into the tropics at high altitudes.
The Arenarieae tribe are annual or perennial herbs, with strictly opposite and exstipulate leaves. Flowers are mostly 5-merous, with white petals (rarely pinkish) that are entire or only shallowly emarginate and never bifid. Flowers typically have 10 stamens and a superior ovary with 3 styles. Fruits help distinguish them from the Alsineae by being capsules that open by valves equal in number to the styles. They are primarily holarctic and north temperate to arctic-alpine, found in temperate Asia, Arctic North America, and extending to the tropics at high elevations.
Genera of the Arenarieae Tribe
Arenaria (179),Moehringia (29), Reicheella (1).
Caryophylleae Tribe
The Caryophylleae is a large, mostly Eurasian and Mediterranean group of herbs to woody-based subshrubs with strictly opposite, exstipulate leaves. The calyx is fused with 5, 15, or up to 35 longitudinal veins on the tubes. The flowers have 5 long-clawed petals with no/reduced coronal scales at the claw-limb junction, differentiating them from Sileneae; they also have strictly 2 styles. Fruits are capsules that dehisce apically by 4 valves or teeth (twice the number of styles).
The Corrigioleae are a group of glaucous annual or perennial herbs, often from taproots. A key field identification is their alternate to sub-opposite leaves, compared to strictly opposite–decussate leaves in most other members. The superior ovary has 3 short styles, or sessile stigmas, and the fruit is a dry, 1-seeded indehistent nutlet, or achene, tightly enclosed by a persistent calyx compared to dehiscent multi-seeded capsules. They are mostly centered around the Mediterranean Basin, Europe, and Africa, but also in Asia and the American continents.
Genera of the Corrigioleae Tribe
Corrigiola (12), Telephium (5).
Eremogoneae Tribe
The Eremogoneae are perennial herbs or dwarf subshrubs, often forming dense, spiny-looking clumps, compact cushions, or loose mats from a woody caudex or taproot. Leaves are strictly opposite, exstipulate, and thin and needle-like. Flowers have 5 entire to slightly emarginate petals (rarely 4) and 5 rigid, 1-3-veined sepals. The ovary has 4 styles (rarely 2 or up to 6), and the fruit is a cylindrical capsule opening by 6 teeth or bifid valves. They are found throughout Central Asia and Siberia, the Middle East, and the Himalayan region, with some in North America.
Genera of the Eremogoneae Tribe
Eremogone (103),Himgiria (1).
Paronychieae Tribe
The Paronychieae are a group of prostrate, spreading, or mat-forming perennial (rarely annual) herbs or dwarf subshrubs with strictly opposite leaves that may appear pseudo-whorled with short shoots. Leaves are small and flanked by prominent papery stipules. Flowers are small and mostly apetalous, with conspicuous silvery-hyaline bracts that partially or fully conceal them. Fruits are 1-seeded indehiscent utricles, or achenes, often with a persistent or accrescent calyx. They are mostly found in the warm-temperate, subtropical, and Mediterranean Old World, but also in similar environments in the New World.
The Polycarpaea are mostly annual, biennial, or perennial herbs or woody-based subshrubs with opposite or pseudoverticillate leaves, and various stipules are always present. Flowers are small and 5-merous (4-merous), and petals are usually present. The fruit is a loculicidal (2–)3-valved, multi-seeded dehiscent capsule (rarely few-seeded), unlike the 1-seeded indehiscent achene/utricle of the Paronychieae. They are mostly Neotropical, particularly Mesoamerica, the Caribbean, and the Andes, but also found in temperate zones as well as Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Madagascar, Asia, and Australasia.
The Sagineae are a tribe of small annuals or matted or dense alpine/subantarctic cussion plants with opposite, usually linear or needle-like leaves and no stipules. Flowers are mostly 4-merous or 5-merous, solitary and terminal, or in few-flowered cymes. The petals are white, entire, or emarginate but never deeply bifid or cleft, and the superior ovary has 4 or 5 styles (rarely 3), with capsules that dehisce by valve numbers matching the styles or sepals. They are bi-polar, cold-temperate, montane, and arctic-alpine, and this tribe contains one of only two plants, the only dicot plant native to Antarctica, Colobanthus quitensis (the other plant is a grass).
The Sclerantheae are a group of herbs in diverse forms, from alpine cussions to stiff annuals and perennials to fleshy coastal halophytes and woody-based shrubs or vines. Flowers are small and tend to have a reduced perianth or are apetalous. The ovary is superior to semi-inferior with 2-3 (rarely up to 5) styles. Fruits also show divergence, being utricles or multi-seeded capsules that dehisce by 3-6 teeth or valves. They also show a wide range across extreme environments: holarctic and boreal, Old World temperate and Mediterranean, Australasia, and North American endemics, and they show remarkable oceanic insular endemism.
The Sileneae is primarily a holarctic tribe (north temperate, boreal, and subarctic) with secondary radiations in the Mediterranean and Middle East, and with worldwide weeds in genera such as Agrostemma and Silene. They are easily identified in the field by their fused calyx, which forms a cylindrical, bell-shaped, or inflated tube with 5 terminal teeth and 10, 20, or up to 30 prominent veins on the tube. Flowers are 5-petaled and long-clawed, with the claw hidden inside the calyx tube; the limb is often bifid, 4-cleft, or fringed, and there is often an evident coronal scale. They are herbs often with swollen nodes and bearing glandular hairs; leaves are strictly opposite and lack stipules.
The Sperguleae are annuals or short-lived perennials that are often glandular-pubescent and succulent, with narrow to thread-like opposite leaves and condensed dwarf shoots that form dense pseudowhorls at each node. Dry, scarious stipules are always present, though they may be small. Flowers have 5 free sepals and 5 entire petals that are never bifid or notched. Flowers have 3 or 5 distinct styles and produce nearly rounded to egg-shaped capsules, often with wings, membranes, tubercles, or other adaptations for wind and water dispersal. They are subcosmopolitan, heavily concentrated in the Old World, but also prevalent in North and South America, especially in salt marshes, alkaline flats, and semi-arid steppes.
Genera of the Sperguleae Tribe
Rhodalsine (1), Spergula (12), Spergularia (67).
Thylacospermeae Tribe
The Thylacospermeae are very densely packed cushion or flat mat-forming perennial subshrubs with opposite leaves and no stipules, adapted to high alpine conditions. Flowers are minute and solitary, barely protruding beyond the vegetative surface, and have 2-3 filiform styles, producing capsules that open apically by 4-6 teeth or valves, with seeds enclosed in an inflated papery or spongy membranous aril or envelope. They are strictly cryophilic species found in high alpine zones (4000+ m) in Asia.
Genera of the Thylacospermeae Tribe
Thylacospermum (2).
Key Differences From Similar Families
The Caryophyllaceae is often confused with the Brassicaceae (mustard) family, particularly the tiny white-flowered mustards that gardeners often also call “chickweed” (Stellaria). But they can easily be differentiated in the field because mustards have alternate leaves and a basal rosette, while Caryophyllaceae almost always have opposite leaves. Furthermore, mustards always have 4 petals arranged in a cross-like pattern, while Caryophyllaceae rarely have 4 petals, usually having 5 or appearing as 10 because they are so deeply cleft.
The Montiaceae (miner’s lettuce) is another common confusion because of sharing opposite succulent leaves and often similar habitats with some Caryophyllaceae members. However, the Montiaceae only has 2 green sepals instead of always 5 or 4, though they may be fused.
The Primulaceae are another family that can be confused with Caryophyllaceae, which have small opposite leaves, sprawling stems, and tiny solitary flowers. However, if you look closely at the base of the petals on a Primulaceae flower, you will see that they are joined at the base into a ring. Also, Primulaceae fruits are typically circumscissile capsules that open around the top like a lid, rather than from the top down, as in Caryophyllaceae.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Caryophyllaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Caryophyllaceae Family
The Caryophyllaceae are mostly annual, biennial, or perennial herbs, caespitose cushion- or mat-forming cryophytes, dwarf subshrubs, or rarely woody shrubs or scrambling lianas. They are strictly autotrophic; although viscid-glandular trichomes serving anti-herbivory or anti-nectar-theft functions are often found, they do not serve carnivorous functions. Plants are helophytic/hydric to extreme xerophytic and cryophilic and may be succulent or halophytic. Stems may be erect, decumbent, or prostrate and are typically terete with noticibly swollen nodes.
Leaves are usually strictly opposite and ducussate or pseudo-whorled (pseudoverticillate resulting from condensed axillary short shoots with shortened internodes seen in some Polycarpeae and Sperguleae) or alternate (rarely spiral in the Corrigioleae tribe). They are petiolate, subsessile, sessile, or rarely perfoliate. Blades are simple and often connate around the stem to form a short, continuous, scarious, or herbaceous sheath.
The lamina is entire, varying from linear, subulate, setaceous, or acicular to broadly ovate, cordate, or obovate; venation is typically 1-nerved or with 3–5 parallel to arcuate veins from the base, rarely pinnate. Leaves are stipulate in the Corrigioleae, Paronychieae, Polycarpaeae, and Sperguleae tribes, typically scarious, but are absent in all remaining tribes.
Flowers of the Caryophyllaceae Family
Plants are mostly hermaphrodite, but polygamodioecious, andromonoecious, gynodioecious, or functionally dioecious forms are also seen. Pollination is mostly entomophilous, but sphingophilous, ornithophilous, anemophilous, and cleistogamous forms are also seen.
Flowers are solitary and terminal (common in high-alpine and cushion-forming species) or organized in terminal (rarely axillary) compound dichasia (biparous cymes), often transitioning distally into monochasial (scorpioid/cincinnoid) branches, capitate clusters, or umbelliform cymes. Inflorescences are subtended by scarious or foliaceous bracts, and an epicalyx (calycle) of 1 to several pairs of imbricate, appressed bracts is seen beneath the calyx in some Caryophylleae.
Flowers are actinomorphic, 5-merous (rarely 4-merous), and are diplostemonous, haplostemonous, or oligostemonous; cyclic (typically pentacyclic, tetracyclic in apetalous forms). A hypanthium, or hypogynous nectariferous disc, is present. The receptacle is sometimes prolonged into a distinct internodal anthophore (elevating corolla, stamens, and ovary above the calyx) or carpophore (supporting the capsule in fruit), particularly in Sileneae.
The perianth has a distinct calyx and corolla or may be sepaline or occasionally apetalous. The calyx has 5(4) sepals that are persistent in fruit. They are either free to the base with scarious margins (most tribes) or gamosepalous and connate into a tubular, campanulate, or inflated 5-lobed/toothed calyx tube with 5–30 prominent longitudinal veins in the Sileneae and Caryophyllaleae.
The corolla, when present, has 5(4) petals in 1 whorl that are alternisepalous and free to the base. In tribes with fused sepals, petals are clawed, and the claw-limb junction often bears 2 distinct, erect coronal scales. Limbs are entire, dentate, fimbriate/lacerate, or deeply bifid. Petals are usually white, pink, magenta, or red, rarely pale yellow, green, or buff, and never blue.
Androecium of the Caryophyllaceae Family
The Caryophyllaceae androecium typically has 10 or 8 members in 2 whorls, but they may be reduced to 5 or 4 or further reduced to 1–3 in wind-pollinated, apetalous, or cleistogamous taxa. They are usually exclusively fertile, but sometimes, mostly in apetalous lineages, the outer whorl is reduced to minute, scale-like, or nectariferous staminodia, and vestigial non-functional staminodia are seen in dioecious and gynodioecious taxa.
Filaments are free or shortly connate at the base into a ring, sometimes adnate basally to the petal claws, or inserted along the anthophore. There are prominent, green, fleshy nectariferous disc-glands, or swollen nectary appendages, often seen at the base of the outer filaments.
Anthers are dithecal, tetrasporangiate, dorsifixed, or versatile and dehisce longitudinally, introrse to latrorse.
Gynoecium of the Caryophyllaceae Family
The gynoecium is syncarpous with 2, 3, 4, or 5 carpels. The ovary is almost always superior but can be semi-inferior when sunken inside the hypanthium; they are 1-locular distally but often incompletely 2-5-locular near the base.
There are 2-5 styles, corresponding to the number of carpels, that are terminal and distinct to the base or rarely connate proximally into a style with 2-3 stigmatic branches. The number of styles is an important diagnostic feature used to differentiate the family at the tribal level (see Tribe descriptions). There are 2–5 dry, papillate stigmas, with the receptive area either capitate or decurrent along the adaxial surface of the styles.
Placentation is free-central in multi-seeded (3-150+ ovules) capsular fruits or reduced to basal with a single solitary ovule in indehiscent nutlets, achenes, and utricles (mostly in Corrigioleae and Paronychieae). Ovules are campylotropous to amphitropous (rarely hemianatropous), bitegmic, crassinucellate, and borne on slender funicles. They are mostly non-arillate, but in Thylacospermeae they are surrounded by a loose, membranous aril/arillode, while in Moehringia and Petrocoptis they develop a distinct, fleshy, lipid-rich strophiole/elaiosome at the hilum.
Fruit of the Caryophyllaceae Family
The Caryophyllaceae fruits are mostly dry, crustaceous, or chartaceous loculicidal capsules, dehiscing apically by valves or teeth (the number in comparison to the number of styles is an important diagnostic at the tribe level), but rarely they may appear fleshy or berry-like at maturity. Occasionally the fruit is a 1-seeded, dry, indehiscent utricle (pericarp thin, papery, loose) or achene/nutlet with a hardened pericarp, often with the persistent, indurated hypanthium or calyx in Corrigioleae, Paronychieae, and Scleranthus.
Seeds are 1 to numerous, reniform, pyriform, subglobose, or dorsiventrally compressed to shield-shaped (peltate); testaceous or tuberculate, papillate, striate, smooth, or with broad, membranous, wing-like marginal rims (e.g., Spergula, Spergularia). Hilum marginal or facial/ventral (Caryophylleae); strophiolate (bearing a distinct, fleshy, lipid-rich elaiosome for ant dispersal in Moehringia and Petrocoptis) or loosely enveloped by a membranous, saccate arillode (Thylacospermeae). True endosperm is reduced or absent, and the nutritive tissue consists of starchy perisperm.
Global Distribution of the Caryophyllaceae Family
The Caryophyllaceae are a truly cosmopolitan family, found from frigid extreme alpine/arctic/antarctic climates to the tropics, although they are predominantly a temperate herbaceous species. Even within most tribal breakdowns, they often occupy multiple geographic locations, with the same genera also found globally.
In the American continents, they are widespread in Canada, including the Arctic (and Greenland) and northern USA, with some also found in Mexico and Central and South America. The species Colobanthus quitensis aka the Antarctic Pearlwort, is native to South America and Mexico but is also one of only two flowering plants native to Antarctica.
Distribution of the Caryophyllaceae in the American Continents
Canadian Caryophyllaceae Genera
Alsineae Tribe in Canada
Cerastium 20 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to most of Canada inc. the Arctic (and Greenland), but introduced to PE; Dichodon 1 sp. native to NU, QC, and Labrador (and Greenland), but extinct on NL Island; Hesperostellaria monospecific narrow endemic genus of AB and MT (USA); Holosteum 1 sp. intro to BC and ON; Moenchia 1 sp. intro to BC; Stellaria 20 spp. cosmopolitan genus inc. 19 spp. native to all of Canada, including the Arctic (and Greenland), and 1 sp. (formerly Myosoton) intro to BC, ON, and QC.
Arenarieae Tribe in Canada
Arenaria 4 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to BC, AB, YT, NT, NU (and Greenland), MB, ON, QB, NS, and NL, and introduced to SK, NB, and PE; Moehringia 2 spp. N-temperate genus native to all of Canada, including the Arctic.
Caryophylleae Tribe in Canada
Dianthus 10 spp. Old World genus intro to all the S provinces except Labrador, and is native in the YT; Gypsophila 6 spp. intro to most of Canada except NU, NL, and PE; Petrorhagia 3 spp. intro to BC, ON, and QC; Psammophiliella 1 sp. intro to ON and QC; Saponaria 2 spp. intro to all of the S provinces inc. NL but exc. Labrador.
Corrigioleae Tribe in Canada
Corrigiola 1 sp. intro to BC.
Eremogoneae Tribe in Canada
Eremogone 2 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, YT, NT, and NU.
Paronychieae Tribe in Canada
Herniaria 1 sp. intro and ephemeral in ON and QC; Paronychia 3 spp. native to AB, SK, and ON and intro to QC.
Polycarpaeae Tribe in Canada
Cardionema 1 sp. native to BC; Polycarpon 1 sp. intro to BC.
Sagineae Tribe in Canada
Sabulina 11 spp. N hemisphere genus native to most of Canada, including the Arctic (& Greenland) except NB, NS, and PE, includes 1 sp. endemic to ON and QC; Sagina 9 spp. ~cosmopolitan genus native to all of Canada incl. the Arctic (& Greenland);
Sclerantheae Tribe in Canada
Cherleria 7 spp. mostly subarctic genus native to BC, AB, YT, NT, NU (& Greenland), QC, and NL; Engellaria monospecific NW NAM endemic genus native to BC and AB; Geocarpon 1 sp. E NAM and Greenland endemic genus native to NU, ON, QC, NS, NL, and Labrador (formerly as Mononeuria); Honckenya monospecific circumboreal genus native to most of Canada, inc. the Arctic (& Greenland), but excl. AB and SK; Pseudocherleria 1 sp. mostly subarctic genus native to YT and NT; Scleranthus 2 spp. intro to BC, AB, SK, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, and NL Island; Wilhelmsia monospecific native to YT and NT (also AK + E Russia).
Sileneae Tribe in Canada
Agrostemma 1 sp. cosmopolitan weed, is introduced to SK, MB, ON, QC, and NB; Atocion 1 sp. intro to BC, ON, QC, NB, and NS; Silene 32 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to most of Canada, including the Arctic (& Greenland) but is introduced to NB and PE; Viscaria 1 sp. subarctic genus native to QC, NL, and NU (& Greenland).
Sperguleae Tribe in Canada
Spergula 1 sp. intro to all of Canada exc. MB, NU, and Labrador (& intro Greenland); Spergularia 7 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to most of Canada inc. the Arctic (& Greenland), but intro to YT.
USA Caryophyllaceae Genera
Alsineae Tribe in the USA
Cerastium 23 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of the USA, inc. AK but exc. FL and HI, where it is introduced; Dichodon 1 sp. introduced to WA, OR, ID, KS, AR, MS, IL, IN, OH, KY, TN, and VA; Hartmaniella 2 spp. USA endemic genus of CA (1) and ID (1); Hesperostellaria monospecific narrow endemic genus of MT and AB (Canada); Holosteum 1 sp. intro to most of the USA except AZ, NM, LA, FL, ND, and MN; Moenchia 1 sp. introduced to WA, OR, CA, IL, SC, MD, and PA; Rabelera 1 sp. intro to WI, PA, OH, NJ, NY, CT, MA, and NC; Stellaria 30 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of the USA and AK, but intro to KS, OK, AR, and HI, plus 1 sp formerly known as Myosoton intro in all northeast states from MN E and TN N, exc ME, inc KS, NE; Torreyostellaria monospecific W USA endemic (formerly Pseudostellariajamesiana) native from MT S to NM and all W and inc. TX.
Arenarieae Tribe in the USA
Arenaria 20 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to the southern half of the USA and introduced to all northern states (except WA, where it is native), and native in AK and introduced to HI; Moehringia 3 spp. are native and introduced to all of the N half of the USA, N of CO excl. KS and TN, and incl. NM, CA, and native in AK.
Caryophylleae Tribe in the USA
Dianthus 9 spp. mostly an Old World genus introduced to all of the USA, inc. HI and exc. AZ, but are both native and introduced to AK; Gypsophila 10 spp. intro to all of the USA, inc. AK and HI; Petrorhagia 4 spp. introduced to much of the W and E USA but absent from most central states; Psammophiliella 1 sp. intro to SD, WI, MI, IN, OH, PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, VT, NH, and ME; Saponaria 3 spp. intro to all of the continental USA.
Corrigioleae Tribe in the USA
Corrigiola 2 spp., incl. 1 intro to WA and OR and 1 native to TX.
Eremogoneae Tribe in the USA
Eremogone 14 spp. native, mostly endemic, to the W USA from ND S to TX and all W except ND.
Paronychieae Tribe in the USA
Herniaria 3 spp. intro to WA, OR, CA, UT, AZ, MI, PA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, MA, ME, and WI; Illecebrum 1 sp. intro to MA; Paronychia 28 spp. native and intro to most of the USA except WA, OR, and ID.
Polycarpaeae Tribe in the USA
Achyronychia monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, and AZ; Cardionema 1 sp. native to WA, OR, and CA; Drymaria 8 spp. native to AZ, NM, CO, TX, LA, MS, GA, and FL; Loeflingia 1 sp. native to WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, AZ, WY, NE, KS, OK, TX, and AR; Polycarpaea 1 sp. intro to FL; Polycarpon 2 spp., inc. 1 sp. intro to OR, CA, TX, AL, GA, SC, FL, and PA and 1 sp. native to CA; Stipulicida 2 spp. S USA and Cuba endemic genus both native to LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, and VA, inc. 1 endemic; Scopulophila 1 sp. endemic to CA, NV, and AZ, other species in genus is endemic to Mexico.
Sagineae Tribe in the USA
Lepyrodiclis 1 sp. intro to WA and ID; Sabulina ~15 spp. N hemisphere genus native to the continental USA and Alaska, including several endemics, and it is extirpated in DE; Sagina 9 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to most of the USA, inc. AK, but exc. ND and NE, and introduced to IA, WI, WV, NH, and HI;
Sclerantheae Tribe in the USA
Cherleria 7 spp. mostly subarctic genus native to the W USA, from MT S to NM and all W, inc. AK; Engellaria monospecific NW NAM endemic genus native to WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, WY, UT, and CO; Geocarpon 7 spp. E NAM and Greenland endemic genus native to TX, OK, MO, AR, LA, IL, KY, TN, AL, GA, FL, NC, SC, VA, WV, NY, NJ, NH, VT, CT, DE, RI, and ME; Honckenya monospecific circumboreal genus native to WA, OR, VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, RI, MA, NH, and ME; Pseudocherleria 1 sp. mostly subarctic genus native to AK; Schiedea 37 spp. endemic genus of HI; Scleranthus 2 spp. intro to all of the E USA from MN S to LA and all E exc. IA, and inc. NE, KS, OK, CA, OR, WA, ID, and MT; Wilhelmsia monospecific native to AK (also Arctic Canada, E Russia).
Sileneae Tribe in the USA
Agrostemma 2 spp. cosmopolitan weeds are introduced to all of the USA, inc. AK, but exc. NV, UT, and AZ; Atocion 1-2 spp. introduced to WA, OR, CA, UT, and most of the E states from MN S to MO and all E, plus AL, FL, SC, and NC; Silene 89 spp. large cosmopolitan genus, mostly native and some introduced, to all of the USA inc. HI and AK; Viscaria 1 sp. subarctic genus intro to OH, NY, MA, CT, and NH.
Sperguleae Tribe in the USA
Spergula 3 spp. intro to all of the USA, inc. HI and AK, but exc. NV, UT, AZ, OK, NE, IA, and TN; Spergularia 12 spp. cosmopolitan genus native and intro to all of the USA inc. AK, but exc. SD, KS, AR, TN, and WV.
Mexico Caryophyllaceae Genera
Alsineae Tribe in Mexico
Cerastium ~12 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of Mexico, inc. 5+ endemics, and is introduced to the Mexican Pacific Islands; Stellaria 7 spp. cosmopolitan genus, inc. 6 native (2 endemic) to all of Mexico and 1 sp. intro; Stellaria 30 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to CAM (exc. Belize), Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, and SE Brazil, with ~20 spp. endemic to the high Andes, and 1 sp. intro to Cuba, Jamaica, the Lesser Antilles, NE+S Brazil, and Uruguay;
Arenarieae Tribe in Mexico
Arenaria ~12 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of Mexico.
Caryophylleae Tribe in Mexico
Gypsophila 1 sp. intro to NW Mexico; Saponaria 1 sp. intro to NE+C Mexico and Ver.
Corrigioleae Tribe in Mexico
Corrigiola 2 spp., incl. 1 intro and 1 native to most of Mexico except the SE and Ver.
Eremogoneae Tribe in Mexico
Eremogone 1 sp, native to NW Mexico.
Paronychieae Tribe in Mexico
Herniaria 1 sp. intro to NW Mexico; Paronychia 6 spp. native to most of Mexico except the SE, inc. 4 spp. endemic to Mexico.
Polycarpaeae Tribe in Mexico
Achyronychia monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico and Ver; Cardionema 1 sp. native to most of Mexico except the SE; Cerdia monospecific endemic of NE+C+SW Mexico and Ver; Drymaria 32-35 spp. native to all of Mexico, including 20 endemics; Loeflingia 1 sp. native to NW Mexico; Polycarpon 1 sp. native to NW Mexico; Scopulophila 1 sp. endemic to NE+SW+C+Gulf Mexico and the other species is endemic to the USA.
Sagineae Tribe in Mexico
Colobanthus1 sp. native C+Gulf Mexico; Sabulina 1 sp. N hemisphere genus endemic to NW Mexico; Sagina 3 spp. native to most of Mexico except the SE where introduced;
Sclerantheae Tribe in Mexico
Triplateia monospecific endemic genus native to most of Mexico exc. SE+Gulf.
Sileneae Tribe in Mexico
Silene 10-15 spp. large cosmopolitan genus is native and introduced to most of Mexico except the SE;
Sperguleae Tribe in Mexico
Spergula 1 sp. intro to most of Mexico exc. the SE; Spergularia 3 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of Mexico except the SE, and includes 1 endemic.
Neotropical Caryophyllaceae Genera
Alsineae Tribe in the Neotropics
Cerastium ~46 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia (1 endemic), Venezuela, Ecuador (1 endemic), Peru (1 endemic), Bolivia, C+SE+S Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile, and introduced to Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Juan Fernandez Islands; Holosteum 1 sp. introduced to NE Argentina.
Arenarieae Tribe in the Neotropics
Arenaria ~25 spp. cosomopolitan genus native to CAM (except Belize), the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and S+SE Brazil, and introduced to Uruguay, with high local endemism in the Andes of Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia; Reicheella monospecific endemic genus of N Chile.
Caryophylleae Tribe in the Neotropics
Dianthus 1 sp. intro to Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, and C Chile; Gypsophila 1-2 spp. intro to Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, S Brazil, Uruguay, and NE+S Argentina; Petrorhagia 1 sp. intro to NE Argentina and C Chile; Saponaria 2 spp. intro to Bolivia, C+S Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.
Corrigioleae Tribe in the Neotropics
Corrigiola 5 spp., inc. 1 intro and 4 native to Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and C Chile (3 endemics).
Paronychieae Tribe in the Neotropics
Herniaria 3 spp. inc. 1 SAM endemic of Bolivia and NW Argentina, and 2 intro to NE+S Argentina and C Chile; Paronychia ~30 spp. native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and C+S+SE Brazil, with very high local endemism in the Andes.
Polycarpaeae Tribe in the Neotropics
Augustea 4 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, and C Chile; Cardionema 6 spp., inc. 5 SAM endemics, native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and E+S Brazil; Drymaria ~22 spp. native to CAM, Cuba, and tropical SAM S to N Argentina, mostly endemic to the Andes, and is introduced to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Leeward + Windward Is., Trinidad-Tobago, and Puerto Rico; Microphyes 3 spp. W SAM endemic genus of N+C Chile and NW Argentina; Polycarpaea 1 sp. pantropical genus native to Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and NE Argentina; Polycarpon 1 sp. native to Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Paraguay, and NE Argentina, and introduced to Haiti, Juan Fernandez Is., Brazil (exc. NE), Uruguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, and C Chile; Pycnophyllum 14 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Stipulicida 1 sp. S USA and Cuba endemic genus native to Cuba.
Sagineae Tribe in the Neotropics
Colobanthus4 spp. native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and NE+S Argentina inc. 3 endemic to SAM; Sabulina 1 sp. a disjunct endemic of C Chile in an otherwise N hemisphere genus; Sagina 3 spp. cosmopolitan genus inc. 2 native to C Chile, N Argentina, S Brazil, Uruguay, and the Dominican Republic, and 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, NW+S Argentina, S Chile, and SE Brazil;
Sclerantheae Tribe in the Neotropics
Maguirellaria 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of the Dominican Republic; Selleola monospecific narrow endemic genus of Haiti; Scleranthus 2 spp. intro to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, C Chile, NE+S Argentina, and Uruguay.
Sileneae Tribe in the Neotropics
Agrostemma 1 sp. cosmopolitan weed, is introduced to S Brazil, NE+S Argentina, Uruguay, and C Chile; Atocion 1-2 spp. are introduced to Jamiaca, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Colombia; Silene ~18 spp. cosmopolitan genus, native in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, and introduced to Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Jamaica, Bermuda, Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay, and S+SE Brazil.
Sperguleae Tribe in the Neotropics
Spergula 6 spp. inc. 5 spp. native in Bolivia, Paraguay, N+C Chile, Argentina, S Brazil, and Uruguay, and 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, Jamaica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, C+SE Brazil, and S Chile; Spergularia 15-20 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to Colombia (1 endemic), Ecuador, Peru (1 endemic), Bolivia, Chile (3 endemics), Argentina, Paraguay, S Brazil, and Uruguay, and intro to NE Brazil.
Patagonian South America Caryophyllaceae Genera
Alsineae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Holosteum 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Stellaria 3 spp. native, inc. 1 endemic, to the Patagonian region and Falkland Is., and intro to the South Georgia Is.
Arenarieae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Arenaria 1 sp. cosmopolitan genus native to Patagonia.
Caryophylleae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Dianthus 1 sp. intro to C Chile and S Argentina; Gypsophila 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Petrorhagia 1 sp. intro to S Argentina and C+S Chile; Saponaria 1 sp. intro to the region.
Paronychieae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Herniaria 1 sp. intro to C Chile and S Argentina; Paronychia 2 spp. native throughout the region; Philippiella monospecific endemic genus of C Chile and S Argentina.
Polycarpaeae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Cardionema 1 sp. native to S Argentina and the Falkland Islands and is introduced to South Georgia Is.; Polycarpon 1 sp. intro to C+S Chile.
Sagineae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Colobanthus 3 spp. native to Patagonia, including the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and 1 sp. that ranges S down to Antarctica; Sagina 1 sp. intro to Patagonia, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia Is.
Sclerantheae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Scleranthus 1 sp. intro to S Argentina.
Silineae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Agrostemma 1 sp. cosmopolitan weed, is introduced to C Chile and S Argentina; Silene ~10 spp. large cosmopolitan genus native and introduced to the Patagonia region, inc. 1 endemic, is introduced to the Falkland Is.
Sperguleae Tribe in Patagonian South America
Spergula 4 spp., inc. 3 native to Patagonia with 1 endemic to S Argentina, and a 4th introduced to S Chile and Falkland Is.; Spergularia 5 spp. cosmopolitan genus native throughout Patagonia and the Falkland Is.
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA 1993+. Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
iNaturalist.org 2020+. https://www.inaturalist.org/. Accessed 2020-current. If you like plants or nature in general, please join the iNaturalist community and start sharing your observations with others. The data we track is invaluable for scientists like me wanting to track population changes over time.
Korotkova, N., et al. (2021). Caryophyllaceae at Caryophyllales.org—THE authoritative source for all things Caryophyllaceae.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. 2009+. Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO 2019+. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed 2020-current.
USDA, NRCS. 2020+. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
15 Sep, 2026
10 Sep, 2026
How to Identify the Cactaceae or Cactus Family
Echinocereus coccineus ssp. rosei, a clumping cactus nativet to the southern USA and northen Mexico Page Last Updated September 10, 2026
Introduction to the Cactaceae Family
Welcome to the Cactaceae, or cactus, family. This is arguably my most favorite plant family (I have many) for the often bizarre-looking plants with no leaves and solitary, showy, beautiful flowers. I also admire them for their ability to produce such amazing beauty in the most extreme arid and even hyper-arid environments where few other plants can even survive. There’s just something so special about their beauty and tenacity that I really respect.
Unfortunately, many people love cacti as much as I do, and collectors have been decimating wild populations by digging them up and bringing them home, where more often than not, they simply die. PLEASE DON’T! And if you buy a cactus, only buy it from a reputable nursery; never buy wild-collected specimens. Finally, if you see a real beauty out in the wild, take pictures and share them on iNaturalist! And if you really love the plant, return when its fruits are ripe and harvest some seeds (as long as it’s not endangered!) to start your own. And regardless of its status, still don’t take more than 10% of the seeds; please refer to my ethical wildcrafting blog for more information on ethical harvesting.
If you’re new to plant morphology, the guide below is a perfect beginner’s description if you are keen to learn how to identify the Cactaceae, or cactus family, with no need to know any scientific jargon.
Below the guide, you’ll find morphology photos to help you identify the features of the Cactaceae family, information on uses and wildlife values, and pictures of individual Cactaceae species I have photographed in North America, organized by supertribe and tribe, so you can start to see the relationships within the family as well.
Beginner’s Guide to the Cactus (Cactaceae) Family
For researchers or those wanting to learn more, further down the page is a Scientific Botanical Description and my genus-level distribution data throughout North, Central, and South America.
Leaves and Stemsof the Cactus Family
The cactus family are perennial succulents that photosynthesize through their stems, with almost all genera lacking true leaves. They may be short, rounded cushion forms, tall, tree-like cacti, or epiphytes, or they may be growing in clumps, and they almost always live in arid or semi-arid environments. They possess areoles, unique structures containing sharp spines and various hairs, with most possessing numerous sharp-pointed, curved, or hooked spines.
Flowersof the Cactus Family
Flowers are mostly bisexual, containing both male (stamens) and female (ovary, stigma, and style) parts in the same flower. Cactus flowers are almost always large and showy, solitary, and sessile (not on a stalk) with radial symmetry, although some forms show bilateral symmetry. Instead of sepals and petals arranged in 2-3 whorls like most of its relatives, the cactus has numerous, often colorful tepals arranged spirally. Pollination occurs via insects, birds, or bats.
Reproductive Featuresof the Cactus Family
There are always numerous stamens (15-1,500+), spirally arranged in dense series and with slender, thread-like filaments. The ovary is usually inferior (inserted below the point of tepal attachment) and embedded within a vegetative structure (pericarpel). There is one terminal style with numerous spreading stigma lobes that are often very colorful.
Fruitsof the Cactus Family
Cactus fruits are always berries (botanically speaking, they are actually pseudo-berries), with seeds contained within a single fleshy, succulent, dry, papery, or leathery fruit derived from a single ovary. The fruits contain numerous, often black or reddish-brown seeds.
Morphology of Cactaceae in North America
First, this is some general Cactaceae morphology, focusing on the more columnar types.
Next, since Opuntioideae is a relatively large group with some unique features, we will look at those next.
Finally, we will examine Cactaceae floral and fruit morphology (COMING SOON!).
Some Species of Cactaceae Found in North America
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cacteae Tribe
Echinocactus horizonthalonius ssp. horizonthalonius—Turk’s Head Cactus
Turk’s Head, sometimes called Devil’s Head cactus, is a short, compact barrel cactus that grows no more than about 30 cm tall, recognized by its chalky grey-green stem with 7-9 broad rounded ribs and backwards-curving spines in the areoles. It usually produces a single beautiful rose-pink to magenta flower, but this lovely one had two! It is native to the Chihuahuah desert of New Mexico, West Texas, and northern Mexico.
Ferocactus wislizeni—Fishhook Barrel Cactus
This one is a robust, classic barrel cactus that can reach well over a meter tall with a massive, heavily armed cylinder up to about 60 cm wide. It’s sometimes also called the “compass barrel” because it tends to lean noticeably toward the south or southwest, toward the sun. Apart from its large size, the 1-4 large, flattened, reddish-gray central spines with pronounced ridges that curve downward like a very sharp fishhook make it easy to identify. The flowers cluster on the top and are often orange, but I have also seen them in yellow. They are native to the southwestern USA and northern Mexico.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cereeae Tribe
Pilosocereus purpusii—Viejo (Old Man Cactus)
Viejo is an interesting cactus endemic to Mexico, primarily across Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, and Michoacán. It is a tall, tree-like columnar cactus with slender, cylindrical stems and 10-14 low, vertical ribs. The small, closely placed areoles are filled with radial spines and 1-3 shorter, stouter central spines, and they produce scattered beards of long, soft, silky white hairs seen here above the developing fruit. This one was found in a dry forest in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, specifically in Paco’s Flora and Fauna Reserve.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Echinocereeae Tribe
Carnegiea gigantea—Saguaro Cactus
The saguaro is easily the most famous columnar cactus in North America, known for its massive size, growing up to 16 m tall and ~75 cm wide. You can see how big they grow with my son and me standing in front of it! They have 12-30 prominent vertical ribs with sharp crests and bear clusters of 15-30 sharp spines in the areoles. Flowers are creamy white and open at night, where the bats feed on them and pollinate the flowers. They are native to the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, California, and northern Mexico. This one was in Mohave County, Arizona, USA.
This lovely cactus produces a single stem, or sometimes branched or clustered like this one, that usually grows 10-30 cm tall. Stems carry 12-21 low vertical ribs with closely packed areoles with 15-30+ short, straight, needlelike spines that overlap with neighboring clusters so that none of the stem is left unprotected. It gets its ‘rainbow’ name because the color varies with growing conditions and produces banded lines up the stem (most visible near the bottom of this one). Flowers are very large and often bright yellow but may vary into peach or light pink. It is native to southern New Mexico, West Texas, parts of eastern Arizona, and northern Mexico.
The Kingcup cactus is easy to spot when it flowers, as it often blooms profusely and is covered with vivid scarlet-red to crimson-orange flowers that stay open for several days. It forms dense, sprawling colonies over 1 m across with hundreds of heads. Each stem is deep, dark green and grows to 10-30 cm tall. Stems have only 5-8 ribs, and the usually 3 (but 1-6) stout, heavy, curved spines also help identify it. It is native to the American Southwest, extending north into Colorado and Utah and south into Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. This specimen was found at Blue Hole, New Mexico.
Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum—Cardón Barbón or Indian Comb
This is another large tree-like columnar cactus reaching 8-15 m tall, with a solitary woody trunk up to ~1.75 m tall and nearly 1 m wide before branching into a candelabra crown. Stems carry 10-12 broad, triangular vertical ribs separated by deep grooves (sinuses). Areoles are circular, woolly, and closely set with 8-12 stiff, grayish white radial spines with dark brown tips and 1-3 stouter dagger-like central spines that point outward. White to pinkish flowers bloom at night, attracting bats for pollination. This one was at the Lighthouse in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Hylocereeae Tribe
Acanthocereus tetragonus—Barbed Wire Cactus
This sprawling or arching shrub cactus produces roots where the columns touch the ground. Stems can reach 3-7 m long but remain relatively slender, with only 3-4 ribs that are deep. wing-like, thin ribs with wavy margins and areoles spaced 2-5 cm apart with 1-2 longer central spines and 6-8 shorter radial spines. The stiff, outward-pointing spines and the sprawling habit that forms impenetrable thickets give the plant its common name, Barbed Wire Cactus. Flowers are large and funnelform for pollination at night by moths. It is native to southern Texas and south to northern South America. This one was in Cerritos, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Opuntioideae Subfamily: Opuntieae Tribe
I know I don’t break down the Opuntioideae into tribes below, but I am here just to show you the two main tribes (there are only 3) that are both commonly found throughout North America and the American continents.
Opuntia macrorhiza—Plains Prickly Pear
Plains Prickly Pear is a low-growing opuntia, typically remaining under 30 cm tall but sprawling much wider. It produces relatively small, circular to egg-shaped cladodes (less than about 12 cm) that are light green to dull bluish-green and may develop purplish tints. Areoles are widely spaced, and spines are mostly restricted to the upper half or margins of the cladode. Flowers are showy and usually bright yellow with an orange throat. It is native to the central USA and south into northern Mexico; this one was in Anson, Texas.
Opuntioideae Subfamily: Cylindropuntieae Tribe
Cylindropuntia imbricata—Tree Cholla
This is an openly branched, tree-like cactus 1-3+ m tall supported by a woody central basal trunk and whorled branches ~8-30 cm long but only 2-3 cm wide. Stems are covered with laterally flattened tubercules that look like overlapping shingles, and when the plant dies, it leaves behind a perforated woody cylinder that is often used for making walking sticks, furniture, and crafts. Flowers are rich magenta to purple, followed by fruits that turn yellow when mature. It is native to the southwestern USA and extends south into northern and central Mexico.
Pereskiopsis porteri—Alfilerillo
Pereskiopsis porterri is a curious cactus with very thin, rounded stems that often sprawl, forming loose thickets. The key identifier is that it has deciduous leaves on its young stems, but these leaves are drought-deciduous and leave behind the photosynthetic stems. It is strictly endemic to northwestern Mexico on the Baja Peninsula and the coastal lowlands of Sinaloa. This one was in Paco’s Flora and Fauna Reserve, Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Uses of the Cactaceae Family
Many cactus fruits are used as food sources (prickly pear, dragon fruit, ‘tuna’, etc.), while the young cladodes of Opuntia species are frequently eaten as a vegetable (nopal), and in Brazil the leaves of Pereskia are also widely consumed.
They are also an extremely popular horticultural plant among collectors of succulent plants, with numerous genera and species offered commercially. However, collecting them from the wild for ornamental purposes has resulted in some species becoming threatened, along with habitat loss.
In arid regions, they are often used as living fences and hederoows to mark boundaries and keep livestock in/out.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Cactaceae
In hyper-arid regions, they serve as emergency water reservoirs for herbivores, while the fleshy fruits are widely feasted on by frugivorous birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects. They also serve as critical nectar sources for pollinators, including bats, hummingbirds, and solitary bees.
In arid environments, many cacti also serve critical habitat roles, providing nests for excavators like the Gila woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis) and gilded flicker (Colaptes chrysoides), screech owls (Megascops trichopsis), purple martins (Progne subis), American kestrels (Falco sparverius), and desert rodents. They provide not only nesting sites for birds and small animals, but their spines also help protect them from predators.
Taxonomy of the Cactaceae Family
The Cactaceae family has approximately 1,438–1,882 species in 130-150 genera (depending on the circumscription of generic segregates versus polymorphic complexes; Caryophyllales Network Standard, Korotkova et al. 2021; POWO). It is firmly placed in the Caryophyllales order of the core dicots, where it forms a monophyletic, succulent radiation closely allied to Anacampserotaceae, Portulacaceae, and Talinaceae. It is almost entirely restricted to the New World, with major centers of diversity in the highly endemic dry lands of Mexico, Argentina, Peru, the Bolivian Andes, and Eastern Brazil.
Phylogenomic evaluations have recently resolved the Cactaceae into six distinct, monophyletic subfamilies, reflecting progressive evolutionary grades from early-diverging, non-succulent, leafy lineages to specialized, ribbed, stem-succulent cacti.
Here are the genera broken down by subfamily and, in the case of Cactoideae, by tribe.
Genera of the Cactaceae Family
Blossfeldioideae Subfamily
The Blossfieldioideae are the earliest-diverging, most basal lineage, sometimes placed within the Cactoideae, and it consists of a single variable species endemic to the eastern Andes of Bolivia and Northwest Argentina. It is unique in the family for being functionally poikilohydric, losing 80% of its water content and shrinking flat during drought but being able to fully rehydrate when moisture returns. Plants are small, solitary, or hummock-forming geophytic succulents, the smallest cacti in the world rarely exceeding 15-20 mm across, with smooth, unsegmented stems and minute, flat areoles arranged spirally around the stem, with short hairs or tufts but no spines.
Blossfeldia (1).
Cactoideae Subfamily
The Cactoideae is the largest and most species-rich subfamily, with over 80% of all species. They range from unbranched, mini globose species to massive, columnar, tree-like forms, scandent or vining climbers, and pendulous epiphytes with photosynthesis entirely carried out by the stems with no leaves or, if present, reduced to microscopic vestigial primordia. They have areoles bearing spines but no glocids (c.f. Opuntioideae). Flowers are usually solitary and sessile, emerging from areoles or flower-bearing regions. Fruits are fleshy or dry berries. They are native to southern Canada and across the western and southern USA, Mexico, Central America, and South America, with a single disjunct species (Rhipsalis baccifera) in Africa, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka thought to be introduced by birds in prehistoric times. Since there are so many genera in this subfamily, we are going to break this one out into tribes.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cacteae Tribe
These are globose to short-cylindrical cacti that are predominantly North American (Mexican and Southwest US). They are characterized by distinct stem dimorphism (dimorphic areoles/grooves or distinct tubercles separate from ribs) and flowers borne at or near the stem apex.
A massive, predominantly South American tribe of columnar tree-type cactus and globose Andean/eastern Brazilian forms. Many taxa develop specialized terminal or lateral flower-bearing structures called cephalia or pseudocephalia (e.g., Melocactus).
A major clade of mostly North and Central American columnar giant cacti and non-columnar relatives like Echinocereus, typically featuring strongly ribbed stems and well-developed spine armaments.
Primarily climbing, epiphytic, or sprawling climbing cacti with flattened cladodes or ribbed stems. They are renowned for their large, nocturnal, insect- and bat-pollinated flowers and edible fruits (e.g., pitahaya/dragonfruit).
An early-diverging lineage of mostly cloud-forest epiphytes or Andean shrubs with highly unique, double-tubed or heavily enclosed floral structures.
Calymmanthium (1),Lymanbensonia (5).
Cactoideae Subfamily: Notocacteae Tribe
Southern South American and coastal/Atacama desert plants that are globose to small-cylindrical plants and adapted to extreme hyper-aridity, coastal fogs, or high-altitude grassland environments.
Austrocactus (10), Copiapoa (39, alternatively placed in its own monogeneric tribe),Eriosyce (66), Eulychnia (9), Frailea (20), Neowerdermannia (2), Parodia (76).
Cactoideae Subfamily: Rhipsalideae Tribe
This is a small group of mostly neotropical epiphytic mistletoe cacti, but it is also the only paleotropical tribe with a single species of Rhipsalis being the only native Cacataceae outside of the American continents, believed to have been introduced by birds long ago.
The Leuenbergerioideae subfamily is another small subfamily, this one the most basal lineage sister to all remaining Cactaceae. It contains a single genus of woody tree-like species, shrubs, or climbing/scrambling lianas unique to the family in having corky bark early in development and lacking stomata on mature stems, which cannot perform photosynthesis. It also has fully developed broad alternate leaves that may have petioles or be almost sessile. Areoles are in leaf axils and bear straight or slightly recurved wood-like spines and short hairs. Flowers are large, showy, and colorful, either solitary or in cymose clusters. They are native to the neotropics centered around the Caribbean and Central America.
Leuenbergeria (8).
Maihuenioideae Subfamily
The Maihuenioideae subfamily is another small monogeneric lineage with a single genus and two species endemic to Patagonia and the southern Andes in Argentina and Chile, where it thrives in cold-temperate xeric steppes and high-altitude slopes. They are densely branched, mat- or hummock-forming dwarf shrubs with small, fleshy, persistent, needle-like or conical succulent leaves that are 2-10 mm long on short shoots. Areoles in the leaf axils have tufts of white woolly hairs and three prominent central spines. Flowers are large, solitary, and showy and may be pale yellow, white, or pinkish-yellow.
Maihuenia (2).
Opuntioideae Subfamily
The Opuntioideae are the second largest subfamily, made of a diverse array from geophytic dwarf mats to sprawling shrubs and tree-like species, but all share the unique stem structure with distinctly jointed segments called “cladodes,” and all have glochids (barbed hairs) inside their areoles that readily detach on contact. They have cylindrical to conical succulent leaves on their young shoots, but they are usually early-deciduous except in a few primitive genera like Pereskiopsis. Solitary sessile flowers emerge from areoles near the apex or margins of cladodes and are usually brightly colored and lack an elongated floral tube. They are widespread in the American continents, from Canada south to Patagonian South America.
The Cactaceae are mostly straightforward to recognize with their lack of leaves and succulent, photosynthetic stems. However, when other families present photosynthetic stems, they can be confused.
You can easily distinguish succulent Euphorbiaceae by their milky latex, which Cactaceae rarely have (only in select species of Mammillaria). Furthermore, the spines arise from aereoles in Cactaceae but occur as paired stipular spins flanking the leaf scars in Euphorbiaceae.
Succulent Apocynaceae/Ascelpiadoideae are also sometimes confused with Cactaceae, but they too produce abundant white milky latex, and their ‘spines’ are softer tooth-like stem projections, lacking spines or forming non-areolar emergent bristles.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Cactaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Cactaceae Family
The Cactaceae are exclusively perennial stem-succulents and pachycaul woody shrubs with secondary woody growth varying from dense, fibrous xylem cylinders in arborescent forms to parenchymatous, non-fibrous, water-rich secondary xylem in dwarf globe forms. In form they range from dwarf geophytes, globose buttons, and caespitose cushions to erect columnar shrubs, clumping shrubs, arborescent candelabriform trees (up to 15–20 m tall), and pendent or climbing epiphytes and hemiepiphytes. They are primarily xerophytic and rely heavily on Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM), transitioning to C3/CAM intermediates or obligate C3 pathways in ancestral, leafy lineages.
Stems are photosynthetic, with outer surfaces that may be smooth and terete to fluted, deeply ribbed, winged, or spirally organized into distinct tubercles (podaria). Stems may be continuous and indeterminate or organized into articulated, determinate segments (cladodes or phylloclades in Opuntioideae and Rhipsalideae). Tissues are typically non-laticiferous with abundant mucilage canals and resinous ducts, though pressurized white latex occurs as a derived feature in Mammillaria subgenus Mammillaria.
Long shoots are represented by the main photosynthetic stem axes. Short shoots are represented by the areoles—specialized, indeterminate axillary buds in the axils of rudimentary or absent foliar leaves. Areoles produce multiseriate trichomes (wool/hairs), modified foliar structures (spines and, in Opuntioideae, retrorsely barbed glochids), vegetative branches, and reproductive organs (flowers).
Most do not possess any leaves at all, with the exception of persistent laminar leaves in select genera like Pereskia or succulent leaves in Maihuenioideae or possess them mostly only in juvenile form like Opuntia. When present, leaves are one-veined or pinnately veined and do not possess stipules.
Flowers of the Cactaceae Family
The Cactaceae are overwhelmingly hermaphroditic and solitary, sessile, and emerge directly from areolar short-shoot meristems laterally along the stem or terminally within specialized fertile zones. However, select lineages rarely exhibit functional unisexuality, and true inflorescences are restricted to early-diverging subfamilies (Leuenbergerioideae and Pereskioideae), which produce terminal or lateral cymose panicles or racemes. Pollination is always entomophilous, sphingophilous (nocturnal hawkmoths), ornithophilous, or chiropterophilous.
Flowers are often fragrant but may be odorless, and they are mostly actinomorphic but may be zygomorphic with a bent or S-shaped tube in ornithophilous and chiropterophilous lineages.
The floral axis is characterized by the pericarpel, an envelope that completely encloses and fuses with the inferior ovary. Because the pericarpel is derived from stem tissue, its external surface frequently mirrors vegetative shoots, bearing fleshy podaria, scale-like bracteoles, and areoles that produce wool, trichomes, bristles, or spines. Above the ovary, the pericarpel extends into an elongated, floral tube that may be short and rotate to funnelform, campanulate, or exceptionally elongated and salverform.
The perianth exhibits unique phyllotaxy, being undifferentiated into distinct calyx and corolla whorls, and instead is spiral and multiseriate, composed of 15-100+ tepals. Some outer ones may be sepaloid and serve as protective functions in the bud, while inner tepals are more petaloid, becoming larger, membranous, and brightly colored in white, cream, yellow, orange, red, magenta, violet, and green (never blue).
Androecium of the Cactaceae Family
The androecium is polystemonous, composed of numerous stamens, about 15 to 50 in reduced, dwarf, or bird-pollinated flowers to 300–1,500+ in large, bat- and sphingid-pollinated flowers. Stamens are organized into dense, multi-seriate, spirally arranged series inserted along the inner wall of the receptacle tube.
Filaments are slender, filiform, unbranched, and typically free from one another, though basally connate or clustered into indistinct series in some taxa. They are adnate to the receptacle tube for much of their length, becoming free near the throat. In many tubular and campanulate species, stamens form two distinct series: primary (basal) stamens arising often modified with thickened bases or reflexed postures to form a cover over the nectar chamber, plus secondary (throat/limb) stamens that form a broad, multiseriate funnel or ring that presents pollen directly to visitors. They may be included or exserted.
Anthers are oblong to linear, dorsifixed to basifixed, versatile or non-versatile, bilocular, and tetrasporangiate. Dehiscence is introrse to latrose, dehiscing longitudinally via continuous vertical lateral slits. They are typically cream, pale yellow, or golden-yellow and rarely reddish, pinkish, or purplish.
Gynoecium of the Cactaceae Family
The gynoecium is syncarpous, composed of 3 to 14 (rarely up to 20) fused carpels forming a solitary, unilocular ovary. In basal lineages (Leuenbergeria, Pereskia), the ovary is semi-inferior to nearly superior, partially recessed into a fleshy receptacle. In all core subfamilies, it is strictly inferior, embedded within the vegetative pericarpel.
There is a single, stout, terete, erect, terminal style that is hollow or equipped with open tissue canals; in bird- and bat-pollinated flowers, the style is exserted beyond the anther ring. Nectar secretion occurs along a glandular zone at the base of the style.
There are 3 to 14 (–20) spreading, linear to subulate stigma lobes that are dry to semi-dry, papillate, and are white, cream, and yellow to vibrant emerald-green (iconic in Echinocereus) or deep purplish-red.
Placentation is overwhelmingly parietal, with numerous ovules borne on branching, intrusive placentae running vertically along the outer walls of the locule. In early-diverging clades (Leuenbergeria, Pereskia), placentation is basal to parietal-basal. There are numerous ovules per locule, ranging from 15 to 2,000+. Ovules are bitegmic and crassinucellate and campylotropous to amphitropous or circinotropous in the Opuntioideae.
Fruit of the Cactaceae Family
Cactaceae fruits are anthocarpous pseudo-berries derived from an inferior, unilocular ovary integrated in the vegetative pericarpel. They may be fleshy, succulent, dry, papery, or leathery, and they may be indehiscent or dehiscent via basal pores, longitudinal splitting, or irregular splitting, or in rare cases exhibit cryptocarpia.
Seeds are non-endospermic with nitrivive storage in the starchy perisperm. The testa is hard and typically pigmented glossy black, matte black, or reddish-brown; rarely stramineous.
Global Distribution of the Cactaceae Family
The Cactaceae family is almost entirely endemic to the neotropics and southern North America (southern USA and Mexico). They are mostly found in arid or semi-arid climates, mainly in Central and South America; they can also be found north into southern Canada and south into Patagonian South America, as well as ascending into the high Andes in South America (>4,000 m).
However, some are tropical epiphytes living only in humid rain forests. Only a single species of Rhipsalis is native outside of the American continents, believed to have been introduced by birds in prehistoric times, where it has spread in Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Ceylon.
Distribution of the Cactaceae in the Americas
Canadian Cactaceae Genera
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cacteae Tribe
Pelecyphora (Escobaria) 1 sp. native AB, SK, MB;
Opuntioideae Subfamily in Canada
Opuntia 5 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, and ON.
USA Cactaceae Genera
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cacteae Tribe in the USA
Ariocarpus 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to TX; Astrophytum 1 sp. native to southern TX; Coryphantha 7 spp. mostly Mexico endemic genus native to AZ, NM, and TX; Echinocactus 1 sp. a S NAM endemic genus native to CA, UT, NV, AZ, NM, OK, and TX; Epithelantha 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to AZ, NM, and TX; Ferocactus 6 spp. NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, and TX; Lophophora 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to TX; Mammillaria 13 spp. native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, OK, and TX; Neolloydia 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to TX; Pediocactus 7-11 spp. W USA endemic genus of WA, OR, ID, MT, SD, WY, UT, NV, AZ, CO, and NM; Pelecyphora (Escobaria) 1 sp. native OR, CA, NV, AZ, UT, ID, MT, WY, CO, NM, ND, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, LA, AR, IA, MN, IL; Sclerocactus 21 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, CO, AZ, CO, NM, and TX, inc. 16 USA endemics, several of them narrow single-state endemics of UT and AZ; Thelocactus 2 spp. originally S NAM endemic genus native to TX.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cereeae Tribe in the USA
Cereus 1 sp. intro to HI; Harrisia 6 spp. native to FL, inc. 2 narrow endemics, and intro to HI; Pilosocereus 1 sp. native to FL.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Echinocereeae Tribe in the USA
Bergerocactus monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to CA; Carnegiea monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to CA and AZ; Echinocereus 27 spp. NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, CO, WY, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, AZ, and NM; Lophocereus 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to SW AZ; Pachycereus 1 sp. Mexican genus native to S AZ; Peniocereus 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to AZ, NM, and TX; Stenocereus 1 sp. native to AZ.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Hylocereeae Tribe in the USA
Acanthocereus 1 sp. native to TX and FL and introduced to HI; Epiphyllum 1 sp. introduced to FL; Selenicereus 6 spp. native to TX and introduced to FL and HI.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Rhipsalideae Tribe in the USA
Rhipsalis 1 sp. native to FL, note that this is the only genus with a native member outside of the Americas; Schlumbergera 1 sp. intro to HI.
Opuntioideae Subfamily in the United States
Brasiliopuntia 1 sp. intro to FL; Consolea 1 sp. mostly Antilles endemic genus native to FL; Cylindropuntia 28 spp. native to CA, NV, UT, CO, NM, KS, OK, TX, including several S USA endemics; Grusonia 8 spp. NAM endemic genius native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, and TX, inc. 2 SW USA endemics; Opuntia 62 spp. native and intro to all of the USA except VT, NH, and ME, and intro to HI;
Pereskioideae Subfamily in the United States
Pereskia 1 sp. intro to TX and FL.
Mexico Cactaceae Genera
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cacteae Tribe in Mexico
Acharagma 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of the Chihuahuan Desert of Coahuila and Nuevo León; Ariocarpus 7 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico, S to Jal, inc. 6 endemic to NE Mexico; Astrophytum 6 spp. SE NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico and Ver, inc. 5 endemic to Mexico; Aztekium 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of Nuevo Leon; Coryphantha ~40 spp. mostly Mexican endemic genus native and almost all endemic to N+C+SW Mexico and Ver; Cumarinia monospecific endemic genus of N+SW Mexico; Echinocactus 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N, SW, C Mexico, Ver, inc. 1 endemic to N Mexico; Epithelantha 10 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico, inc. 8 narrow Mexican endemics (mostly Coa); Ferocactus 27 spp. NAM endemic genus native to most of Mexico except the SE, and are mostly endemic to Mexico; Geohintonia monospecific narrow endemic of NE Mexico; Kadenicarpus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Mexico and Ver; Kroenleinia monospecific endemic in NE Mexico; Leuchtenbergia monospecific endemic genus of NE+SW Mexico; Lophophora 4 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE+SW Mexico, inc. 3 endemic NE Mexico; Mammillaria ~140 spp. native to all of Mexico, withthe vast majority endemic to Mexico; Mammilloydia monospecific endemic genus of NE Mexico; Neolloydia 4 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico and Ver, inc. 3 endemics; Obregonia monospecific endemic of NE Mexico; Ortegocactus monospecific endemic genus of SW Mexico; Pelecyphora (Escobaria) 11 spp. native to N+SW Mexico, inc. 5 endemic to Mexico; Rapicactus 5 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Mexico; Sclerocactus 6 spp. S NAM endemic genus native throughout N Mexico, inc. 1 endemic NE Mexico; Stenocactus 9 spp. Mexican endemic genus of NE+C+SW Mexico, Ver; Strombocactus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Mexico; Thelocactus 13 spp. originally S. NAM endemic genus native to NE+SW Mexico, incl. 11 endemics of Mexico; Turbinicarpus 14 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE+SW Mexico.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cereeae Tribe in Mexico
Melocactus 1 sp. mostly a neoendemic genus native to S Mexico and Ver; Pilosocereus 5-6 spp. native to all of Mexico.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Echinocereeae Tribe in Mexico
Bergerocactus monospecific S NAM endemic to NW Mexico; Carnegiea monospecific S NAM endemic to N Mexico; Cephalocereus 13 spp. Mexican endemic genus native to most of Mexico except the NW; Deamia 3 spp. Mesoamerican genus native to SW+SE Mexico, Ver, with 1 endemic; Echinocereus ~50 spp. NAM endemic genus native to most of Mexico, except the SE, includes ~30 endemics; Escontria monospecific endemic genus of SW+C Mexico; Lemaireocereus 1 sp. Mesoamerican genus endemic to SW+C Mexico; Lophocereus 2 spp. S NAM genus native to NW Mexico, inc. 1 narrow endemic BCS; Marshallocereus monospecific endemic genus native to SE Mexico; Mitrocereus monospecific originally endemic to SW Mexico; Morangaya monospecific narrow endemic of BCS; Myrtillocactus 3 spp. native to most of Mexico except Chp and SE Mexico, including 2 endemics; Nyctocereus monospecific genus native to N+SW Mexico; Pachycereus 5 spp. mostly Mexican endemic genus native to all of Mexico, including 4 endemics in Mexico; Peniocereus 8 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N+C+SW Mexico, inc. 6 endemics of Mexico; Polaskia 2 spp. Mexican endemic genus of SW+C Mexico; Pterocereus monospecific endemic of SE Mexico and Ver; Stenocereus ~20 spp. native to all of Mexico, incl. several endemics.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Hylocereeae Tribe in Mexico
Acanthocereus 12 spp. American genus that is mostly native to all of Mexico and includes 11 endemics; Aporocactus 2 spp. originally endemic to NE+C+SW Mexico, with 1 sp. endemic to Oaxaca and 1 sp. now introduced to India; Disocactus ~8 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. 4 endemic to Mexico; Epiphyllum ~6 spp. native to Mexico exc. the NW, with 2-3 endemic to Mexico; Selenicereus ~14 spp. native to all of Mexico, including several endemics.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Rhipsalideae Tribe in Mexico
Rhipsalis 1 sp. native throughout all of Mexico—note that this is the only genus with a native member outside of the Americas.
Leuenbergerioideae Subfamily in Mexico
Leuenbergeria 1 sp. mostly neoendemic genus native to Gro, Oax.
Opuntioideae Subfamily in Mexico
Cylindropuntia 20-30 spp., many endemics, native to N+C+SW Mexico and Ver; Grusonia ~15 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N+SW Mexico, inc. ~7 endemics; Opuntia ~100 spp. native and widespread in all of Mexico, inv. ~30 endemics; Pereskiopsis 6 spp. native throughout Mexico, inc. 5 endemic spp.
Pereskioideae Subfamily in Mexico
Pereskia 2 spp. intro SW Mexico.
Neotropical Cactaceae Genera
Blossfeldioideae Subfamily in the Neotropics
Blossfeldia is a monospecific endemic genus of Bolivia and NW Argentina.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cacteae Tribe in the Neotropics
Pelecyphora (Escobaria) 1 sp. endemic in Cuba; Mammillaria ~5 spp. native to the Bahamas, the Antilles, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Venezuela.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cereeae Tribe in the Neotropics
Acanthocalycium 7 spp. SAM endemic genus of N Argentina (4 endemics), Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, and C Brazil; Armatocereus 7 spp. SAM endemic genus of Ecuador and Peru; Arrojadoa 9 spp. narrow endemic genus of C+E Brazil; Arthrocereus 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of C+SE Brazil; Aylostera 27 spp. endemic to Bolivia and NW Argentina; Copiapoa 39 spp. narrow endemic genus of N+C Chile; Borzicactus 10 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Brachycereus monospecific narrow endemic of the Galapagos; Browningia 11 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia and Peru; Castellanosia monospecific endemic genus of Bolivia and Paraguay; Cereus ~30 spp. former neoendemic genus native to Haiti, parts of the Lesser Antilles, and most of SAM exc. Chile but introduced to Ecuador, the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico, and Leeward Is.; Cipocereus 5 spp. narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil; Cleistocactus 26 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, C Brazil, N Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay; Coleocephalocereus 10 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Cremnocereus monospecific endemic of Bolivia; Denmoza monospecific narrow endemic of NW Argentina; Discocactus 16 spp. SAM endemic genus of Brazil (except far S), Bolivia, and Paraguay; Echinopsis 18-80 spp. former SAM endemic native to Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, N Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, C+S Brazil, and intro to C Chile, Colombia; Espostoa 11 spp. former narrow endemic genus of Ecuador and Peru, now introduced to the Canary Islands; Espostoopsis monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Facheiroa 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of N+E Brazil; Gymnocalycium 70 spp. a SAM endemic genus native to Bolivia, C+S Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina; Haageocereus 7 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru and N Chile; Harrisia 16 spp. native to the Greater Antilles, Cayman Is, C+E Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, and Uruguay; Jasminocereus monospecific endemic genus of the Galapagos; Lasiocereus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Leocereus monospecific endemic genus of N+E Brazil; Leucostele 13 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, N+C Chile, and NW Argentina; Loxanthocereus 12 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Matucana 25 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Melocactus 50 spp. mostly neoendemic genus native to the Bahamas, the Antilles, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil (except S); Micranthocereus 9 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Mila monospecific endemic genus of Peru; Neoraimondia 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru and Bolivia; Oreocereus 8 spp. W SAM endemic genus native to Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Pilosocereus ~50 spp. native to the Antilles, the Bahamas, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil (except S), Paraguay, Ecuador, and Peru; Praecereus 2 spp. (or syn. Monvillea) a neoendemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Argentina, Paraguay, C+S+SE Brazil, and Trinidad-Tobago; Pygmaeocereus 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Rauhocereus monospecific narrow endemic genus of Peru; Rebutia 3 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Bolivia and NW Argentina; Samaipaticereus 2 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru and Bolivia; Stephanocereus monospecific narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Stetsonia monospecific SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, C Brazil, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Trichocereus 7-40 spp. former SAM endemic genus native to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, and NW Argentina, possibly elsewhere, the genus is still undergoing major revisions; Uebelmannia 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil; Vatricania monospecific narrow endemic genus of Bolivia; Weberbauerocereus 8 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru and Bolivia; Yavia monospecific W SAM endemic genus of Bolivia and NW Argentina; Yungasocereus monospecific endemic to Bolivia.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Echinocereeae Tribe in Neotropics
Brasilicereus 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Corryocactus 16 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, and N Chile; Deamia 3 spp. Mesoamerican genus native to Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua (1 endemic); Lemaireocereus 1 sp. Mesoamerica genus endemic to Guatemala and Honduras; Leptocereus 20 spp. Caribbean endemic genus, mostly single-island endemics, of Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cayman Is., and Leeward Is.; Marshallocereus monospecific endemic genus native to Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica (and Mexico); Mitrocereus monospecific Mexican intro to Honduras; Myrtillocactus 2 spp. native to Guatemala (1 endemic); Stenocereus ~6 spp. native to Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Leeward Is., the Netherlands Antilles, the Venezuelan Antilles, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Colombia, and Venezuela; Strophocactus 4 spp. SAM endemic epiphyte of Colombia, Venezuela, N+E Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Hylocereeae Tribe in the Neotropics
Acanthocereus 3 spp. mostly Mexican genus native to CAM, Cuba, Trinidad-Tobago, the Leeward and Windward Islands, the Venezuelan Antilles, Colombia, and Venezuela; Disocactus 12+ spp. native throughout all of CAM, including 8+ CAM endemics; Epiphyllum ~6 spp. native to CAM, tropical SAM to Bolivia, NE Argentina, and introduced to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles; Pseudorhipsalis 5 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, N Brazil, and Jamaica; Selenicereus ~14 spp. native to the Antilles, the Bahamas, CAM, and tropical SAM S to Bolivia, NE Argentina, and S Brazil; Weberocereus 6 spp. neoendemic genus of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador (1 endemic).
Cactoideae Subfamily: Lymanbensonieae Tribe in the Neotropics
Calymmanthium monospecific narrow endemic genus of Peru; Lymanbensonia 5 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Notocacteae Tribe in the Neotropics
Austrocactus 7 spp. S SAM endemic genus native to N Argentina and C Chile; Eriosyce 66 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru, N+C Chile, and Argentina; Eulychnia 9 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru and N+C Chile; Frailea 20 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Bolivia, C+S Brazil, Paraguay, NE Argentina, and Uruguay; Neowerdermannia 2 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Parodia 76 spp. former SAM endemic genus native to Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay, S Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Cactoideae Subfamily: Rhipsalideae Tribe in the Neotropics
Hatiora 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of E+S Brazil; Lepismium 7 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, N Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil (except N Brazil); Pfeiffera 6 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Bolivia and NW Argentina; Rhipsalis ~43 spp. native to CAM (exc. El Salvador), the Antilles, and tropical SAM to N Argentina (exc. N Chile), with one species found native in Africa, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka, the only cactus native outside the American continents; Schlumbergera 7 spp. former narrow endemic of SE Brazil.
Leuenbergerioideae Subfamily in the Neotropics
Leuenbergeria 8 spp. originally a neoendemic genus native to CAM (exc. Belize), Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Venezuelan Antilles, Colombia, and Venezuela, inc. 4 narrow endemics of the Antilles, 1 endemic to E Brazil, and now introduced to El Salvador, Trinidad-Tobago, and the Leeward and Windward Islands.
Maihuenioideae Subfamily in the Neotropics
Maihuenia 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of C+S Chile, and NW+S Argentina.
Opuntioideae Subfamily in the Neotropics
Airampoa 4-6 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Austrocylindropuntia 8-10 spp. originally SAM endemic to the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina and is now introduced elsewhere; Brasiliopuntia 2 spp. former SAM endemic genus native to Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina, and introduced to Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras; Consolea 10 spp. mostly Antilles endemic genus native to the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, Cayman Is, Leeward Is, Puerto Rico, and Turks-Caicos Is; Cumulopuntia 17 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, and NW Argentina; Cylindropuntia 2 spp., inc. 1 native to the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru, and 1 sp. intro to Ecuador, Bolivia, N Chile, and N Argentina; Maihueniopsis 19 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina; Miqueliopuntia monospecific endemic genus in N Chile; Opuntia 25-35 spp. native to CAM (excl. Belize), the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil (excl. N), Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay; Pereskiopsis 2 spp. native to Bolivia, Guatemala, and Honduras; Pterocactus ~6 spp. S SAM endemic genus of Argentina and S Chile, rest in the Patagonian region; Punotia monospecific endemic to Bolivia and Peru; Quiabentia 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, and E Brazil; Tacinga 11 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Venezuela and Brazil (excl. S); Tephrocactus 12 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, N Argentina, and N Chile.
Pereskioideae Subfamily in the Neotropics
Pereskia 10 spp. former neoendemic genus native to Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, C+E+S Brazil, Peru (1 endemic), Bolivia (2 endemics), Paraguay, and NE Argentina, and introduced to Ecuador, Guatemala, SW Mexico, the Antilles, and Bermuda.
Patagonian South America Cactaceae Genera
Cactoideae Subfamily: Cereeae Tribe in Patagonia
Cereus 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Gymnocalycium 1 sp. native to S Argentina;
Cactoideae Subfamily: Notocacteae Tribe in Patagonia
Austrocactus 6-8 spp. S SAM endemic genus native to Patagonia, including at least 1 endemic; Eriosyce 1 sp. SAM endemic genus native to S Argentina; Parodia 1 sp. native to S Argentina, but may be N of this zone.
Maihuenioideae Subfamily in Patagonia
Maihuenia 2 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Patagonia.
Opuntioideae Subfamily in Patagonia
Maihueniopsis 4 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Patagonia, inc. 1 endemic; Opuntia 1 sp. native to S Argentina, but may be outside the limit of this region; Pterocactus ~7 spp. S SAM endemic genus of S Argentina and S Chile native, inc. 5 endemic to the region.
Additional Information and References
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA 1993+. Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
Hernández-Hernández, T., et al. (2014). A time-calibrated mega-tree of the cacti: Evaluating methods for large-scale supermatrix analyses. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
iNaturalist.org 2020+. https://www.inaturalist.org/. Accessed 2020-current. If you like plants or nature in general, please join the iNaturalist community and start sharing your observations with others. The data we track is invaluable for scientists like me wanting to track population changes over time.
Korotkova, N., et al. (2021). Cactaceae at Caryophyllales.org—THE authoritative source for all things Cactaceae
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. 2009+. Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO 2019+. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed 2020-current.
USDA, NRCS. 2020+. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
10 Sep, 2026
25 Jul, 2026
How to Identify the Koeberliniaceae or Allthorn Family
Koeberlinia spinosa showing off its short, interlocking branchlets terminating in formidable thorns, which give it its common names “Crown of Thorns” and “Allthorn”. Page Last Updated September 8, 2026.
Introduction to the Koeberliniaceae Family
Welcome to the Koeberliniaceae, a very tiny plant family with just a single genus and two species, one native to southwestern North America and the other a disjunct endemic of Bolivia. That’s it! However, despite its small size, this family is yet another of my favorites (and I have many!). I have not visited Bolivia yet, so my only experience with this family is in the American Southwest. These desert shrubs have huge green thorns that provide an excellent refuge for desert dwellers like birds, lizards, and rabbits, who also love feeding on the berries, which do not taste bad, though they are difficult to pick! I also love how it thrives in inhospitable environments where most plants simply cannot survive. It is a truly admirable plant!
If you’re new to plant morphology, the guide below is a perfect beginner’s description if you are keen to learn how to identify the Allthorn or Koeberliniaceae family, with no need to know any scientific jargon.
Below the guide, you’ll find morphology photos to help you identify the features of the Koeberliniaceae family, information on uses and wildlife values, and pictures of individual Koeberliniaceae species I have photographed in North America, organized by supertribe and tribe, so you can start to see the relationships within the family as well.
Beginner’s Guide to the Allthorn (Koeberliniaceae) Family
For researchers or those wanting to learn more, further down the page is a Scientific Botanical Description and my genus-level distribution data throughout North, Central, and South America.
Leaves and Stemsof the Allthorn Family
The allthorn family are shrubs or small trees with green, photosynthetic stems, no true leaves (reduced to scales), and are densely armed with long, sharp thorns at the ends of short branches that interlock to create an impenetrable thicket.
Flowersof the Allthorn Family
Allthorn members produce clusters of flowers, sometimes solitary, in the axils of the branchlets (where the branchlet meets the branch). Flowers are bisexual, with both male (stamens) and female (ovary, stigma, and style) parts in the same flower.
Flowers have 4 free petals that are creamy-, greenish-, or yellowish-white and 4 greenish sepals that are free or slightly joined at the base.
Reproductive Featuresof the Allthorn Family
Allthorns have 8 free stamens and an ovary that attaches above the point of petal attachment (superior) with a single thick style and simple stigma on top.
Fruitsof the Allthorn Family
Fruits of the allthorns are fleshy, edible berries that are shiny black or dark purple when mature, with persistent sepals at their base and parts of the persistent style forming a pointy-looking tip (but not sharp or thorny).
Morphology of Koeberliniaceae in North America
There is Only One Species of Koeberliniaceae Found in North America
Koeberlinia spinosa—Crown of Thorns, Allthorn
Koeberlinia spinosa is one of only two members of the tiny Koeberliniaceae family, shown here with its characteristic interlocking thorny branches that make it an impenetrable thicket. The stems and thorns are photosynthetic, and it produces no visible leaves, as they are reduced to drought-deciduous scales. This plant has lots of little green fruits visible that are still maturing. It was found near Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States.
Uses of the Koeberliniaceae Family
While there are no commercial uses, Koeberlinia spinosa berries are edible and were part of indigenous diets in the American Southwest and Mexico, and smoke from the wood was used for medicinal and ceremonial purposes.
In modern desert landscaping they make excellent border plants for xeriscapes because the interlocking thorns are an impenetrable living security barrier or natural fence. However, they grow very slowly, so they generally are not available commercially.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Koeberliniaceae
Due to their spiny nature, the shrubs make a valuable wildlife refuge for small birds like quail and cactus wrens, reptiles, desert rabbits, and more, keeping them safe from larger predators. They also create a nurse canopy to shelter desert seedlings from extreme temperatures.
The flowers produce abundant nectar that feeds native bees, wasps, flies, and moths, while the fleshy berries are eaten by numerous birds, rodents, and other desert dwellers. While inedible to herbivores most of the year, they will feed on the fleshy new shoots after seasonal rains.
Taxonomy of the Koeberliniaceae Family
The Koeberliniaceae was designated as a family back in 1895; however, authors mostly still included it in the Capparaceae family until recent molecular studies supported its removal and designation as its own family.
Still, it sits solidly in the Brassicales order since it produces mustard oils (glucosinolates) just like Brassicaceae and most members of the order, and it also has 4 sepals, 4 petals, and a superior ovary, which are characteristic of the order.
Genera of the Koeberliniaceae Family:
Koeberlinia (2).
Key Differences From Similar Families
Since they are closely related and were once included in the Capparaceae family, these are the most common ones to mistake for Koeberlinia, as they share a woody habit, flowers with 4 petals, and both produce berries. The Capparaceae can be distinguished by usually having more than 8 stamens, often up to 100 or more, and often having a very long gynophore; they also occasionally produce dehiscent capsules or woody-shelled fruits (amphisarcas) instead of berries.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Koeberliniaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Koeberliniaceae Family
The Koeberliniaceae are shrubs or small trees, up to 5 m tall, with heavily branched stems that form a dense, impenetrable, rounded or flat-topped thicket. It has alternate, spirally arranged leaves, which are sessile, very minute, scalelike, and drought-deciduous, so the leaves are seldom noticeable. Despite being technically deciduous, it is functionally evergreen via photosynthetic stems.
Branches are densely armed with lateral branchlets that diverge nearly at right angles and interlock with each other, creating a formidable barrier. The branchlets are short and rigid and terminate in characteristic sharp green thorns 1.5-5 cm long, which make the family easy to identify.
Flowers of the Koeberliniaceae Family
Koeberliniaceae inflorescences are racemose, corymbose, or solitary, located in branchlet axils on short peduncles. Bud scales are usually persistent at the base, and bracts are usually absent. Pedicels are present and slender. An intrastaminal nectary disc or glandular tissue is present around the base of the ovary.
Flowers are bisexual, small, actinomorphic, and rotate to crateriform, campanulate, or urceolate; the perianth and androecium are hypogynous.
There are 4 sepals that persist in fruit and are free or slightly connate at the base, all greenish and equal.
There are 4 distinct petals in the corolla, inserted on the receptacle, and they are imbricate, distinct, equal, and greenish-white to cream or pale yellow in color.
Androecium of the Koeberliniaceae Family
The Koeberliniaceae have 8 free stamens with slender filaments that may be hairless or slightly puberulent, taper upward, and are slightly expanded at the base. Anthers dehisce via longitudinal slits.
Gynoecium of the Koeberliniaceae Family
The Koeberliniaceae gynoecium consists of a sessile ovary that is 2-locular (2 fused carpels), with axile placentation and 1-4 ovules per locule that are anatropous and bitegmic.
There is 1 short, thick style and a capitate terminal stigma without any lobes.
Fruit of the Koeberliniaceae Family
The Koeberliniaceae always produce indehiscent, spheroidal, fleshy berries 3-6 mm in diameter that mature to a shiny black or dark purple, subtended by a persistent calyx and tipped with a persistent remnant of the short style. Seeds are small, blackish, shiny, and smooth to slightly rugose with scant or absent endosperm, with 1-4 (usually 2-4) per fruit.
Distribution of the Koeberliniaceae Family
The Koeberliniaceae is a small family with just two species. One is found in southwestern North America (the United States and Mexico), while the other is in Bolivia in South America. They are found nowhere else in the world.
Distribution of the Koeberliniaceae in the Americas
Canadian Koeberliniaceae Genera
Absent
USA Koeberliniaceae Genera
Koeberlinia spinosa is a North American endemic species native to CA, AZ, NM, and TX.
Mexico Koeberliniaceae Genera
Koeberlinia spinosa is a North American endemic species native to north and central Mexico, mostly in Chi, Coa, NL, Tam, Dgo, Zac, SLP, Hdg, Son, and BCS.
Neotropical Koeberliniaceae Genera
Koeberlinia holacantha is endemic to Bolivia in the dry inter-Andean valleys.
Patagonia Koeberliniaceae Genera
Absent
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
FNA 1993+. Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
iNaturalist.org 2020+. https://www.inaturalist.org/. Accessed 2020-current. If you like plants or nature in general, please join the iNaturalist community and start sharing your observations with others. The data we track is invaluable for scientists like me wanting to track population changes over time.
POWO 2019+. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed 2020-current.
USDA, NRCS. 2020+. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
25 Jul, 2026
25 Jul, 2026
How to Identify the Cleomaceae or Spiderflower Family
Cleomella serrulata or Rocky Mountain Bee Plant is a pretty Cleomaceae member native to North America from Canada south to Mexico. Page Last Updated September 8, 2026
Introduction to the Cleomaceae Family
Welcome to the Cleomaceae, or spiderflower, family of plants, a group of interesting, often sticky and smelly plants with pretty flowers that are closely related to the mustard, or Brassicaceae, family. This family has undergone a lot of work, and my description here recognizes the work of Roalson and others who have been working to resolve issues with the far too large Cleome genus and better recognize the distinctiveness of the genera native to the American continents, among other issues. But, as soon as new information comes available, I will update it!
If you’re new to plant morphology, the guide below is a perfect beginner’s description if you want to learn how to identify the spiderflower or Cleomaceae family, with no need to know any scientific jargon.
Below the guide, you’ll find morphology photos to help you identify the features of the Cleomaceae family, information on uses and wildlife values, and pictures of individual Cleomaceae species I have photographed in North America, organized by supertribe and tribe, so you can start to see the relationships within the family as well.
Beginner’s Guide to the Spiderflower (Cleomaceae) Family
For researchers or those wanting to learn more, further down the page is a Scientific Botanical Description and my genus-level distribution data throughout North, Central, and South America.
Leaves and Stemsof the Spiderflower Family
The Cleomaceae, or spiderflower family, are mostly annual herbs, but they can be perennial herbs, shrubs, trees, and vines. Plants are often resinous or have sticky hairs that are often pungent-smelling.
Leaves on stalks (petioles) are alternately arranged along the stem. They are usually compound and made of 3-7 leaflets each. The leaves are often hairy, and the margins are either smooth or finely toothed.
Flowersof the Spiderflower Family
The spiderflower family has mostly bisexual flowers with both male (stamens) and female (ovary, style, and stigma) parts in the same flower, typically in clusters at the stem tops but sometimes solitary in leaf axils.
Flowers have 4 sepals and 4 petals and a long, prominant stalk (gynophore) that the ovary sits on, usually with nectaries at their base. Cross-like (cruciform) or fan-like (strongly zygomorphic) petals come in white, pink, purple, bright yellow, red, or orange.
Reproductive Featuresof the Spiderflower Family
Spiderflowers typically have 6 stamens but may have 4-100, rarely more, some of which may be infertile and petal-like, and they typically sit at the base of the stalk the ovary sits on (gynophore). Stamens are usually very long and extend far past the petals, giving them a spidery look and their common name, but they are shorter in some genera.
The ovary sits on a long stalk (gynophore) above the petals and sepal attachment, and it has a variable style ranging from none (the stigma sits directly on the ovary) to a very long style that persists in fruit.
Fruitsof the Spiderflower Family
Spiderflowers mostly produce pod-like fruits that look like legumes but are called siliques or silicles. They are often on long stalks (gynophores) and contain 1-100+ rounded, kidney-shaped, or horseshoe-shaped seeds.
Morphology of Cleomaceae in North America
Some Species of Cleomaceae Found in North America
Arivela (Cleome) viscosa—Asian Spiderflower
Arivelaviscosa is an Old World species of Cleomaceae that has been introduced to the southern USA and south throughout the neotropics; this one was found in western Mexico. You will often still find it under its former name of Cleome s.l. It is an annual herb that grows up to 1.5 m tall and is covered in pungent, sticky glandular hairs. It has compound leaves with 3-5 leaflets and bright yellow flowers with a variable number of stamens, usually 12-30, unlike those of Cleome s.s. (the more restricted definition), which has only 6. Fruits are glandular-hairy and erect or ascending pod-like fruits (siliques).
Cleomella lutea—Yellow Bee Plant
This pretty Cleomaceae member is Cleomella lutea here showing off its bright yellow 4-petaled flowers with 6 prominent stamens that extend far past the petals, giving them a spider-like appearance, and pod-like fruits up to 3.5 cm long (siliques) on long stalks (gynophores). It is an annual herbaceous plant that grows up to 1 m tall, with smooth, hairless stems and hairless compound leaves made of 3 or sometimes 5 leaflets. It is native to the western United States and northwestern Mexico, where it serves as a critical mid-to-late-summer nectar source in arid habitats. This one was near Woodside, Utah, USA.
Cleomella serrulata—Rocky Mountain Bee Plant
Cleomella serrulata was formerly described as Peritoma (transferred by Roalson & J.C. Hall). It is an annual herb, 30–150 cm tall, with a pungent odor when bruised. Compound leaves, mostly hairless, have 3 leaflets. Flowers are an attractive purplish or pinkish, rarely white, and they have 6 long, protruding stamens. Podlike fruits droop on long stalks (gynophores) when mature. This plant is native to western and central Canada and the United States, extending south into northern Mexico. This one was near Laverne, Oklahoma, USA.
Uses of the Cleomaceae Family
The Cleomaceae have frequently been used by indigenous groups around the world as leafy vegetables, similar to mustard greens. Cleome serrulata was also widely used in traditional pottery in the American Southwest.
Their striking flowers, long stamens, and adaptability to hot, drought-prone climates make some Cleome species popular for ornamental flowers. Also, their high sugar content and accessible floral parts also make them useful for easy collecting by bees, making them suitable for honey production.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Cleomaceae
One of the biggest ecological values the Cleomaceae bring is their abundant nectar that supports countless native bees, solitary wasps, hoverflies, butterflies, and even some hummingbirds.
Just like others of the Brassicales, their glucosinolate (the mustard oils) content resists general herbivores but makes them an essential host plant for pierid butterflies, especially the whites.
Since many are fast-growing annuals with high drought and stress tolerance, they act as an early pioneer species in disturbed habitats where they help stabilize the soil.
Finally, the seeds are an important food source for songbirds, game birds, and small rodents.
Taxonomy of the Cleomaceae Family
The Cleomaceae family has approximately 270 species in 15-27 genera of the Brassicales order within the core Eudicots. The Cleomaceae were formerly included as a tribe or subtribe of the Capparaceae family. However, modern phylogenetics showed that they are more closely related to the Brassicaceae, and they were given their own family status.
However, there has been significant generic revision from a broadly circumscribed, massive Cleome genus with over 200 species, including different sections or subgenera that were split into numerous distinct, monophyletic genera instead. Depending on whether authors accept a broader and more conservative view or a narrower modern phylogenetic view, there are currently about 15-27 genera instead of the original 3 I had when I first worked with this family.
And, as with most things in plant taxonomy these days, work is still being done, so the generic descriptions of this family may yet change again. I will update this page as soon as new information is available.
Genera of the Cleomaceae Family
My current delineation of the Cleomaceae family is based on modern treatments (e.g., Roalson et al. 2015; Barrett et al. 2017; Roalson & Hall 2017; Bayat et al. 2018; McGinty & Roalson 2020; Roalson 2021; Soares Neto & Roalson 2022), and databases like Plants of the World using legacy delineations are not yet in sync.
The Cleomaceae are most confused with other families in the Brassicales order. The Capparaceaealso share 4-merous flowers, long stamens, and a long gynophore, but they are almost exclusively woody trees or shrubs that mostly lack glandular hairs instead of herbs with sticky, often foul-smelling glandular hairs.
The Brassicaceae are mostly herbs with 4 cruciform petlas, 6 stamens, and 2-valved siliques. While similar, they can be identified by the lack of a gynophore (the ovary is sessile) and their tetradynamous stamens compared to the Cleomaceae’s mostly equal stamens that are usually exserted and may be polystemonous.
Sometimes the legume-like fruits of the Cleomaceae are confused with the Fabaceae family, especially those with palmately compound leaves. However, most Fabaceae produce unique pea-like (papilionaceous) flowers or actinomorphic brush-like flowers instead of flowers with 4 clawed petals and long-exserted stamens.
Occasionally they are confused with the Onagraceae because of their 4 prominent petals, showy stamens, and pod-like capsules. However, the Onagraceae also have inferior ovaries (attached below the calyx), and their leaves are simple instead of typically palmately compound.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Cleomaceae Family
This is the more in-depth scientific description of the Cleomaceae family with more granular detail than was provided in the guide above for those who want more information.
Habit & Leaf Form of the Cleomaceae Family
The Cleomaceae are mostly annual herbs, but they also include some perennial herbs and a few shrubs, trees, and lianas. Plants are often characteristically resinous or with glandular-pubescent hairs that are often sticky and may be aromatic, foetid, or odorless (by contrast with Capparidaceae), although some woody Andean taxa or other dry-adapted species can be glabrescent.
Leaves are arranged in an alternate spiral and are petiolate and non-sheathing. The lamina is usually palmately compound with 3-7(-9) leaflets, or sometimes unifoliate or simple. Leaf margins are entire to serrulate.
Stipules may be minute to scaly, leafy, hair-like, modified into stipular spines, or absent.
Leaf lamina is dorsiventral to isobilateral/centric. Abaxial epidermis may be papillose or have epicuticular wax, or neither. Stomata are present and predominantly anomocytic. Leaves usually have hairs, which are mostly multicellular capitate-glandular hairs.
Flowers of the Cleomaceae Family
The Cleomaceae are mostly hermaphroditic, sometimes andromonoecious, or rarely functionally unisexual or dioecious (e.g., Podandrogyne). Flowers are arranged in terminal or axillary bracteate racemes or may be solitary in upper leaf axils.
Flowers are actinomorphic to strongly zygomorphic. The floral receptacle expands into a prominent gynophore, androphore, or a combined androgynophore, elevating the reproductive organs above the perianth. Nectaries are present in the form of a hypogynous disk or distinct adaxial glands or scales.
The perianth has a distinct calyx and corolla with typically 8 parts (4–12) in 2 whorls. The calyx typically has 4 sepals in 1 whorl or more or less resolvable into decussate K2+2, which are free or basally connate, equal to unequal, persistent or caducous, with aestivation that is imbricate, valvate, or open in bud.
The corolla has 4 petals (2–6) in 1 whorl that are free and often strongly clawed at the base with linear or orbicular limbs. They may appear cruciform or be strongly zygomorphic when arranged in a fan-like array. Petals vary in color, including white, pink, purple, bright yellow, red, or orange.
Androecium of the Cleomaceae Family
The androecium contains 4 to 100 members or rarely 250+ when primordia undergo secondary branching with anthers maturing centrifugally (e.g., Corynandra and Kersia); or they may rarely be reduced to 1-2 (Dactylaena), but most members have 6 stamens that are rarely tetradynamous (c.f. Brassicaceae).
Members are free from the perianth, inserted on the receptacle, at the base of the gynophore, or borne along an androgynophore. Filaments may be equal or not and are usually strongly exserted but are sometimes slender and thread-like, but they only rarely have swollen or winged appendages.
The androecium may consist entirely of fertile stamens, or it may feature infertile, petalloid, or reduced staminodes.
Anthers are basifixed to dorsifixed, tetrasporangiate, and dehiscing via longitudinal parallel slits.
Gynoecium of the Cleomaceae Family
The Cleomaceae have a syncarpous gynoecium that is superior and consists of 2 fused carpels forming a 1-locular ovary; while a persistent replum is present, there is no complete septum (c.f. Brassicaceae) dividing the cavity.
The gynoecium ranges from non-stylate with a sessile stigma to highly elongated and persistent in fruit. Stigmas are capitate, truncate, or 2-lobed, dry or wet type, and are usually papillate.
Placentation is parietal along 2 (rarely 3) placental lines, with 2 to 100+ ovules per locule. Seeds are campylotropous or amphitropous, bitegmic, and crassinucellate.
Fruit of the Cleomaceae Family
The Cleomaceae overwhelmingly produce dry, 2-valved, unilocular, elongated siliques or silicles. Dehiscence is valvular, with the two valves separating from the persistent replum. Less often, fruits may be indehiscent and schizocarpic, breaking into 1-seeded, nut-like mericarps. Fruits are sessile or often elevated on a gynophore/androgynophore.
Fruits contain 1-100+ somewhat rounded, reniform, or horseshoe-shaped seeds. In many clades, the seeds feature a prominent invaginated cleft or an elaiosome/aril. Endosperm is sparse or absent.
Global Distribution of the Cleomaceae Family
The Cleomaceae family has a widespread subcosmopolitan distribution from the north and south temperate (mostly warm temperate) to tropical zones, although it is noticeably absent from much of the cold temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. In the American continents, they are found from southern Canada south to Argentina but do not reach the colder Patagonian region of South America.
Distribution of the Cleomaceae in the Americas
Canadian Cleomaceae Genera
Cleomella (Peritoma) 1 sp. native to BC, AB, SK, and MB and intro to ON and QC; Polanisia 1 sp. NAM endemic genus native to AB, SK, MB, ON, and QC; Tarenaya 1 sp. intro to ON, QC.
USA Cleomaceae Genera
Cleome 1 sp. introduced to the southern USA; Cleomella ~20 spp. native to most of the USA except SC, NC, and ME and introduced to WI, IL, IN, OH, and CT, about half are endemic to the USA; Polanisia 5 spp. NAM endemic genus native throughout the USA, especially in the Great Plains, but is absent in ME, NC, and SC, includes three USA endemics; Sierulea 1 sp. intro to the southern USA; Tarenaya 3 spp. inc. 1 native to the extreme southern states and 2 spp. widely introduced.
Mexico Cleomaceae Genera
Cleome 2 spp. intro throughout Mexico; Cleomella 9 spp. native throughout Mexico, including 3 endemics; Cleoserrata 2 spp. native to southern Mexico; Dactylaena 1-2 spp. mostly neoendemic genus native to southern Mexico; Iltisiella 2 spp. mostly Mexico-endemic genus native throughout Mexico, especially the western and northern dry regions; Physostemon 1 sp. neoendemic genus native to southern Mexico; Polanisia 1 sp. NAM endemic genus native to most of Mexico; Tarenaya 2 spp. native across most of Mexico.
Neotropical Cleomaceae Genera
Andinocleome 6-8 spp. SAM (Andes) endemic genus of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile; Cleome 3 spp. Old World genus introduced to the Caribbean Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Galapagos, Central America, and tropical South America; Cleoserrata ~5 spp. Mexico and neoendemics native to CAM, the Antilles, and SAM exc. Uruguay and Chile; Dactylaena 7 spp. neoendemic genus of Haiti, the Venezuelan Antilles, Venezuela, E Brazil, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Haptocarpum monospecific narrow endemic of E Brazil in the Bahia region; Iltisiella 2 spp. mostly Mexico-endemic genus native in northern CAM; Melidiscus monospecific neoendemic native to Panama, scattered throughout the Caribbean, and native to SAM S to Bolivia and Brazil; Physostemon 10 spp. neoendemic genus native to CAM, the Greater Antilles, Brazil, Venezuela, Guiana, Paraguay, and Argentina; Podandrogyne has roughly 25-50 spp. (many Andean species awaiting formal publication.) neoendemic genus from Costa Rica S through Colombia and Ecuador with the most species, also in Peru, Bolivia, and Amazonian Brazil; Pterocleome monospecific narrow N SAM endemic centered in Colombia and Brazil; Sierulea 1 sp. intro to the Caribbean, CAM, and N SAM; Tarenaya ~35 spp. mostly neoendemic genus (1 disjunct sp. in Africa) native to CAM, the Caribbean, and tropical SAM S to Argentina (exc. Chile), with a center of diversity concentrated in E+C Brazil.
Patagonia Cleomaceae Genera
Absent
Additional Information and References
Bayat, S., Schranz, M. E., Roalson, E. H., & Hall, J. C. (2018). Lessons from Cleomaceae, the sister of crucifers. Trends in Plant Science, 23(9), 808–821. https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/abstract/S1360-1385(18)30140-7
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA 1993+. Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
McGinty, E. M., & Roalson, E. H. (2020). Pterocleome (Cleomaceae), a new genus for an Andean clade. Phytotaxa, 456(3), 266–274. https://www.biotaxa.org/Phytotaxa/article/view/phytotaxa.456.3.3
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. 2009+. Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO 2019+. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed 2020-current.
Roalson, E. H. (2021). A circumscription of Cleome s.s. (Cleomaceae). Phytotaxa, 496(1), 54–68. https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/view/phytotaxa.496.1.2
Soares Neto, R. L., Thomas, W. W., Roalson, E. H., & Barbosa, M. R. V. (2022). Taxonomic revision of Tarenaya (Cleomaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 107, 250–313. https://doi.org/10.3417/2022705
USDA, NRCS. 2020+. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
WFO (2022+): World Flora Online. Published on the Internet: http://www.worldfloraonline.org. Accessed Spring 2022 – current.
Copyright Information
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
25 Jul, 2026
23 Jul, 2026
How to Identify the Capparaceae or Caper Family
Cynophalla flexuosa flower showing off its many long stamens and protruding gynophore, very characteristic of the Capparaceae. Page Last Updated September 8, 2026.
Introduction to the Capparaceae Family
Welcome to the Capparaceae, or caper family, named after those pungent but tasty little culinary capers! This is an interesting, mostly tropical family of trees and shrubs that are very closely related to mustards (the Brassicaceae), though you might not notice it at first glance other than them often having 4 petals, but the numerous extra-long stamens that give the flowers a delicate appearance look nothing like most members of the Brassicales order.
My only encounters with this unique family so far have been in Mexico, though it does extend north into the southern United States, especially Florida. I found the flowers fascinating with the long stamens and super long gynophore, and I also love their interesting fruits, especially those amphisarcas (see the morphology grid for what those are)!
If you’re new to plant morphology, the guide below is a perfect beginner’s description if you want to learn how to identify the caper or Capparaceae family, with no need to know any scientific jargon.
Below the guide, you’ll find morphology photos to help you identify the features of the Capparaceae family, information on uses and wildlife values, and pictures of individual Capparaceae species I have photographed in North America, organized by supertribe and tribe, so you can start to see the relationships within the family as well.
Beginner’s Guide to the Caper (Capparaceae) Family
For researchers or those wanting to learn more, further down the page is a Scientific Botanical Description and my genus-level distribution data throughout North, Central, and South America.
Leaves and Stemsof the Caper Family
The Caper family are woody trees, shrubs, or vines, rarely subshrubs (woody base only), with evergreen or deciduous leaves that are arranged alternately on the stem and are usually simple and entire, but occasionally they have compound leaves with 3 leaflets (trifoliate). Leaves may have spiny appendages (stipules) at the leaf bases, or they may be reduced to small extrafloral nectaries. Hairs are usually present and may be simple, star-shaped, T-shaped, or reduced to scales, and they rarely have glands.
Flowersof the Caper Family
Flowers of the caper family are mostly bisexual, with both male (stamens) and female (ovary, stigma, rarely a style) parts in the same flower. They are arranged in clusters or are solitary in the leaf axils, and they almost always have a characteristically long (occasionally short) stalk (gynophore) that elevates the ovary above the floral receptacle.
There is a distinct calyx and corolla. The calyx has 4 free sepals, and the corolla has 4 free petals, but rarely are there 2 or even none.
Reproductive Featuresof the Caper Family
One of the most striking features of the caper family is its usually very long stamens that extend past the petals (exserted), which are often very numerous (polystemonous), giving the flowers a delicate appearance.
The ovary is almost always on a stalk (gynophore), which makes its superior placement (attached above the petal attachment) very obvious. There is usually no style, or if it is present, it is typically short (rarely long and thread-like), and the stigma usually sits on top of the elongated ovary.
Fruitsof the Caper Family:
The caper family usually produces fleshy berries, but woody-shelled fruits (amphisarcas) and leathery pod-like capsules are also seen. Pod-like fruits often split apart to reveal a bright red or orange interior (pericarp) and seeds embedded in a juicy pulp (sarcotesta) or wrapped in a fleshy coat (aril), which all entice birds to eat them and spread the seeds.
Morphology of Capparaceae in North America
Some Species of Capparaceae Found in North America
There are no Capparaceae in Canada, and in the USA they are only found in the deep South, so all my North American observations are from Mexico.
Crateva tapia—Toco or Beach Apple
Crateva tapia shows the less common trifoliate leaves and the large indehiscent woody-shelled fruits (amphisarcas) sometimes seen in the Capparaceae family. The woody fruits give the plant the common name “beach apple.” It is a deciduous tree with nocturnal flowers with 14-30+ stamens and a long gynophore 3.5-6 cm long. It is a common tree in the Neotropics, from Sinaloa (where this one was) and Tamaulipas, Mexico, south through Central and South America to Peru and Brazil.
Cynophalla flexuosa—Bay-Leaved Caper
Cynophalla flexuosa, sometimes under the synonym Morisonia flexuosa, is an evergreen shrub, small tree, or occasional scrambling vine with flexuous, hairless branches that often zigzag and droop. It has no spiny stipules; instead, they are reduced to tiny glands (extra-floral nectaries), and it has simple, evergreen, leathery leaves arranged in an alternate spiral on short stalks (petioles). The nocturnal hawkmoth-pollinated flowers have numerous long stamens (polystemonous), seen here in the photo, and the plant produces a fleshy, linear, pod-like capsule 10-30 cm long containing seeds encased in a white aril. This specimen was found in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico. It is native from the United States (Florida) south to Peru and northern Brazil.
Morisonia indica—White Willow or Palu Pretu
Morisonia indica, formerly Quadrella indica, is another member of the Capparaceae family that I found growing in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, this one at Paco’s Reserva de Flora y Fauna. It is a small evergreen tree or shrub with young twigs and leaf stalks covered in star-shaped hairs, with alternate simple, leathery leaves covered in peltate scales on the lower surface. Flowers are medium-sized and fragrant, with 4 free white petals, 12-25 long stamens, and a superior ovary on a slender stalk (gynophore) 1-2.5 cm long. Fruits are linear, pod-like capsules that split open to reveal a vibrant orange or red inside fruit wall (pericarp) with seeds covered in a white aril. They are native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean islands, and northern South America.
Uses of the Capparaceae Family
The unopened flower buds (capers) of Capparis spinosa are pickled in salt or brine and release mustard oils that give them a sharp, pungent flavor, and some species are also used as famine foods, especially the fruits and seeds.
Several species are used ornamentally (e.g., Morisonia (Quadrella)cynophallophora and Morisonia (Sarcotoxicum) salicifolium), and Cratevareligiosa, the “Sacred Garlic Pear” or “Temple Tree,” is often planted near temples and cemeteries.
Capparis species are sometimes used for erosion and dune control, while Boscia senegalensis is sometimes used for water clarification in rural areas.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Capparaceae
The Capparaceae are mostly found in dry savannas, deserts, and seasonally dry tropical forests, where they often dominate and function as a critical ecological keystone family, providing structure, habitat, nectar, and host plant resources.
The mustard oils in the Capparaceae deter generalist herbivores, but they are critical for specialized pierid butterflies like whites, sulfurs, and orange-tips.
The delicate flowers with their often very prominent and diverse nectaries make them crucial for specialized pollinators, including bees, hawkmoths, and even bats.
Finally, animals, monkeys, and even fish (in seasonally flooded forests) sometimes eat the fruits, especially those of Capparidastrum and Neocalyptrocalyx.
Taxonomy of the Capparaceae Family
The Capparaceae family has approximately 480 species in 15-19 genera and is part of the Brassicales order of the core eudicots.
This family is another one that has gone through significant taxonomic revisions in the past two decades, which include major recircumscription of Capparis, including the removal of some New World genera formerly included there but now raised to their own genera. Additionally, several genera that were previously included, often as a tribe or subfamily, have now been removed and placed in the related Cleomaceae family after modern phylogenetics showed they are more closely related to the Brassicaceae despite their morphological similarities to the Capparaceae.
The fact that we still have several unplaced genera/species shows that the work is not yet done. I have used the most current information I have, but I will update the list as new information becomes available.
Genera of the Capparaceae Family
The Capparaceae are a small family that is not currently divided into subfamilies or tribes.
The Capparaceae are related to the Cleomaceae and share floral traits, including a long gynophore, many stamens, and superior ovaries. However, the Cleomaceae are mostly herbs with dehiscent capsules with a replum present, rather than woody shrubs and trees with either fleshy fruits or dehiscent capsules but without a replum.
The Capparaceae is also closely related to the Brassicaceae and share the characteristic glucosinolate (mustard) oils, but they differ morphologically and ecologically. The Capparaceae are mostly tropical woody shrubs and trees without a replum in their fruits, while the Brassicaceae are mostly temperate and boreal herbs and occasional subshrubs with a replum, but true woody species are very rare.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Capparaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Capparaceae Family
The Capparaceae are woody trees, shrubs, lianas, or rarely subshrubs, and they usually lack glands and resin. They are often xerophytic but can also be mesophytic, and they may be evergreen, drought-deciduous, or brevideciduous (immediately replacing dropped leaves with new ones).
Leaves are almost always arranged in an alternate spiral, rarely in an alternate distichous arrangement, and they are petiolate (long or short) and non-sheathing. They are usually simple and entire, with margins that are often involute, although some genera have compound trifoliate leaves (Crateva and Ritchiea).
Leaves sometimes have stipules that may be spiny (Capparis), or in some genera they are modified as extrafloral nectaries, which may also be present as small, sunken, or cup-shaped glands in leaf axils. The leaf lamina is dorsiventral to centric; the abaxial surface is smooth or papillose. Stomata are present and predominantly anomocytic, but anisocytic, tetracytic, or cyclocytic types also occur.
Hairs are often present and are usually simple, unicellular or multicellular, stellate, T-shaped, or peltate–scale hairs that are all mostly without glands, in contrast with the Cleomaceae’s sticky, glandular hairs.
Flowers of the Capparaceae Family
The Capparaceae are mostly hermaphroditic, occasionally andromonoecious or polygamodioecious, and rarely dioecious. Nectaries are virtually always present, often forming a hypogynous disk or discrete glands alternating with the petals, but others are seen, and these are often key diagnostic features when delineating genera and species. Pollination is mostly entomophilous (often by bees and hawkmoths), but occasionally it may be chiropterophilous or ornithophilous.
Flowers are arranged in racemes, corymbs, or umbels or are solitary in leaf axils (or supra-axillary in vertical series). They are usually bracteate, though they are often small or caducous and ebracteolate. Flowers are regular to somewhat irregular and are usually 4-merous. The floral receptacle develops a characteristic long (sometimes short) gynophore or, sometimes, a combined androgynophore that elevates both stamen and pistil. A hypogynous disk is present and is typically made of separate members.
The perianth has a distinct calyx and corolla, usually made of 8 parts except in apetalous members (some Old World genera); the perianth is arranged in 2-4 whorls.
The calyx is made of 4 parts in 2 whorls (2 decussate pairs) that are free or basally connate with lobes about the same length or longer than the tube that may be bilabiate or regular and are imbricate.
The corolla is made of 4 free petals that are equal or unequal and sometimes hooded; they are diagonal and in 1 whorl. But rarely 2 petals are also seen, and occasionally they are absent (apetalous).
Androecium of the Capparaceae Family
The Capparaceae androecium is made of 4 or 6–100+ members that are occasionally isomerous with the perianth (when 4–8) but are mostly polystemonous and maturing centripetally (from the outer margin inward toward the gynophore base) via secondary polyandry rather than true branching of the stamens, as was previously thought. Members are free of the perianth, vary from markedly unequal to equal, and are usually free from one another.
Members may be all exclusively fertile stamens, or sometimes they include staminodes in the form of reduced sterile filaments. Stamens are not didynamous or tetradynamous (c.f. Brassicaceae), and they are filantherous or petaloid and filantherous. Anthers are dorsifixed (often versatile) to basifixed, tetrasporangiate, introrse, and dehiscing via full-length longitudinal slits.
Gynoecium of the Capparaceae Family
The Capparaceae gynoecium is syncarpous, superior, and elevated on a prominent thread-like or stout gynophore; it is more rarely sessile or on an androgynophore. There are usually 2 carpels, but there can be 3-8(-12) due to secondary polycarpelly.
The ovary is unilocular or pseudo-plurilocular due to deeply intruding parietal placentas or fasle septa. Placentation is parietal on 2 to several longitudinal placentas, and there is no replum (by contrast with Cleomaceae and Brassicaceae). Ovules: 10 to numerous per cavity (or 20-50 per placenta) arranged in 2 or more rows; anatropous to campylotropous, bitegmic, crassinucellate.
The style is usually absent or obsolete, with the ovary tapering to end in a flat or capitate stigma; however, sometimes there is a very brief, thick style, and rarely the style is elongated and filiform.
Fruit of the Capparaceae Family
Capparaceae fruits are diverse, ranging from fleshy indehiscent berries (usually) and woody amphisarcas to dehiscent fleshy or leathery capsules that may split longitudinally into 2-4 valves (lacking a replum) to reveal seeds that are usually arillate or have a colorful sarcotesta. Leathery capsules also may have a red or bright orange pericarp inside that contrasts with the white arils, which help attract birds to spread the seeds. The seeds may or may not be endospermic.
Global Distribution of the Capparaceae Family
The Capparaceae are a pantropical family, with only a few members extending into temperate regions of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. In the Americas, they are absent in Canada and the northern USA but are then found from the southern USA south through Mexico, Central America, and most of South America.
Distribution of the Capparaceae in the Americas
Canadian Capparaceae Genera
Absent.
USA Capparaceae Genera
Morisonia 3 spp. inc 2 native to AZ, TX, and FL, and 1 intro to HI.
Mexico Capparaceae Genera
Crateva 2 spp. pantropical genus native to all of Mexico; Morisonia 5 spp. native throughout all of Mexico, inc. the former Quadrella genus.
Neotropical Capparaceae Genera
Beautempsia monospecific narrow endemic genus of Ecuador and Peru; Capparis 1 sp. introduced to Trinidad-Tobago; Capparidastrum 4 spp. currently with uncertain placement, are native to Colombia (2 endemic), Ecuador (1), and Venezuela (1); Crateva 4 spp. pantropical genus native to CAM, the Greater Antilles (exc. Haiti and inc. 1 endemic to Cuba and the Dominican Republic), some of the Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru (1 endemic), Bolivia, and NE Argentina, exc. Uruguay;Cynophalla 1 sp. (unplaced genus) is endemic to N Brazil;Mesocapparis 1 sp. (unplaced genus) endemic to N+NE Brazil;Morisonia 86 spp. mostly neoendemics of CAM, the Antilles, the Bahamas, and SAM exc. Chile, Uruguay, and also found north into Mexico and the southern USA; Neocalyptrocalyx 11 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, N+E Brazil, and Ecuador; Steriphoma 2 spp. (unplaced genus) endemic to Colombia.
Patagonia Capparaceae Genera
Morisonia 1 sp. neoendemic genus, might be native to northern Patagonia in S Argentina, but this is uncertain.
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. If you hover over most words in the articles, you can get definitions.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA 1993+. Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
iNaturalist.org 2020+. https://www.inaturalist.org/. Accessed 2020-current. If you like plants or nature in general, please join the iNaturalist community and start sharing your observations with others. The data we track is invaluable for scientists like me wanting to track population changes over time.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. 2009+. Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO 2019+. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed 2020-current.
USDA, NRCS. 2020+. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
23 Jul, 2026
21 Jul, 2026
How to Identify the Brassicaceae or Mustard Family
Barbarea vulgaris is part of the Cardamineae tribe of the Camelinodae supertribe. Like most Brassicaceae members, it shows the characteristic 4-petal flower arrangement. Page Last Updated September 8, 2026.
Introduction to the Brassicaceae Family
Welcome to the Brassicaceae family, formerly known as the Cruciferae in older references and more commonly referred to as the “mustard family” after its famous namesake, the mustards.
I have to admit, the Brassicaceae surprised me when I dug a little deeper. I am guilty of often dismissing “another yellow mustard,” but they are fascinating and beautiful once you really look at them and are actually quite diverse. They’re also a relatively large but seriously overlooked and globally important tribe that deserves a closer look. But before you get started, here’s a quick, important tip: It’s often the fruits and hairs that we need to take a much closer look at to identify them.
If you’re new to plant morphology, the guide below is a perfect beginner’s description if you want to learn how to identify the mustard or Brassicaceae family, with no need to know any scientific jargon.
Below the guide, you’ll find morphology photos to help you identify the features of the Brassicaceae family, information on uses and wildlife values, and pictures of individual Brassicaceae species I have photographed in North America, organized by supertribe and tribe so you can start to see the relationships within the family as well.
Beginner’s Guide to the Mustard (Brassicaceae) Family
For researchers or those wanting to learn more, further down the page is a Scientific Botanical Descriptionand my genus-level distribution data throughout North, Central, and South America.
Leaves and Stemsof the Mustard Family
The Brassicaceae are almost entirely made of annual, biennial, or perennial herbs found in a wide variety of environments from deserts to the Arctic and high alpine environments, but shrubs and climbing vines are also occasionally seen. Leaves are always arranged alternately along the stem, usually in a spiral pattern, and may be tiny to very large, sometimes even variable on the same plant. Leaf blades are mostly simple with entire, dissected, or toothed margins.
Flowersof the Mustard Family
Flowers of the mustard family are bisexual, having both male (stamens) and female (ovary, stigma, and style) parts in the same flower. They almost always have nectaries, usually a nectar-producing ring at the base of the ovary, making them important for native pollinators.
The corolla is almost always made of 4 free petals arranged in a cross pattern and often typically attached by claws (see morphology photos), though the claws are more obvious in some species than others. The 4 free sepals are also arranged in a cross pattern, and occasionally the inner pair is enlarged and sac-like (basally saccate) for additional nectar storage.
Reproductive Featuresof the Mustard Family
Mustard flowers usually have 6 stamens that are almost always arranged in a unique pattern with 4 longer inner ones and 2 shorter outer ones (tetradynamous) and are usually free of one another except when the inner 4 are joined at the base.
The ovary is located above the point of petal attachment (superior), usually has 1 reduced style (sometimes none) at its top, and has 1-2 stigmas that may have 1-2 lobes.
Fruitsof the Mustard Family
All mustards produce dry, non-fleshy fruits, with most producing unique pod-like fruits called silicles and siliques that are unique to the Brassicaceae family. Pay attention to the fruits, as those and the 4-petaled flowers are the quickest ways to identify the Brassicaceae family as a whole, but they are also often the best way to identify family members, since flowers can be too similar sometimes between different species.
Silicles are shorter and flatter and are often somewhat coin-shaped, while siliques are more legume-like, longer, and narrower (see morphology photos below). The fruits typically split apart (dehiscent) on valves that spread upwards, but occasionally they are capsules that do not split apart (indehiscent).
Morphology of Brassicaceae in North America
Some Species of Brassicaceae Found in North America
Since most of our Brassicaceae species are in the Brassicodae and Camelinodae supertribes, I will provide one member of each tribe that I have photographed in each supertribe we cover below, which will let you start seeing the family relationships.
The Alysseae are a Brassicaceae tribe of herbs and small shrubs that are characterized by having dense star-shaped (stellate) or branched hairs on their stems and leaves, often giving them a gray or silvery appearance. They have small clusters of 4-petaled flowers, mostly yellow or white, although some are pink or blue. Silicles are short and rounded like tiny discs, containing often flat and winged seeds.
Berteroa incana—Hoary Alyssum
Berteroa incana is an annual or biennial herb up to 1 m tall with dense star-shaped hairs that give the plant a hoary-white or grayish-green look. Leaves are lance-shaped with smooth margins. Petals have a deep notch in the middle, making them appear almost 8-petaled instead of 3. This species is a Eurasian native that is a widespread invasive weed in northern North America. This one was on the side of a road in Mount Curie, BC, Canada.
The Aribideae are mostly herbs or occasionally low-growing shrubs, typically with a mix of simple, star-shaped, branched, and other hairs. Flowers are in unbranched clusters (racemes) and have four usually white or yellow petals, or occasionally pink or purple. Seeds range from short rounded silicles to elongated siliques. This tribe is nearly cosmopolitan but heavily centered in temperate, montane, and alpine areas of the Northern Hemisphere.
Tomastima cuneifolia—Wedgeleaf Draba
Tomastima cuneifolia was formerly known as part of the Draba genus, also of the Brassicaceae. It is native to North America, especially in the southwestern USA and northern Mexico, where it thrives in sunny, rocky desert scrub and pinyon-juniper habitat. I discovered this charming little specimen in the Valley of Fires lava fields in New Mexico. It’s a small annual herb that grows 20–40 cm tall and has distinctive wedge-shaped basal leaves that are covered in stiff, coarse hairs. Later in the season it may produce closed, petal-less flowers that self-fertilize (cleistogamous).
The Brassiceae are mostly herbs and occasional subshrubs that are best characterized by their elongated, segmented pods (silique) that are divided horizontally into two distinct parts, one that splits open (dehiscent) and one that does not. Leaves are often deeply pinnately lobed and may be hairless or covered in simple unbranched hairs. Flowers are usually bright yellow or sometimes white or purple. The tribe heavily concentrates around the Mediterranean, North Africa, and southwestern Asia but is also globally important for agricultural crops like cabbage and relatives, so it is widely grown and introduced around the world.
Diplotaxis tenuifolia—Perennial Wall Rocket
Perennial wall rocket is a hairless, bushy perennial that grows 20-80 cm tall from branching stems with woody bases. It emits a pungent mustard-like scent when you crush its deeply lobed leaves with linear segments. Fruits are slender upward-pointing siliques on a short stalk (gynophore) with tiny oval seeds arranged in two distinct rows. This Eurasian native has been widely naturalized across North and South America and elsewhere because of its use as a salad green called “wild arugula.”
The Isatideae are primarily native to Eurasia and North Africa, but they are highly adaptable, thriving in open, arid, and disturbed habitats, and they have naturalized elsewhere. They are herbaceous plants with specialized silicles that are short, strongly flattened, do not split apart (indehiscent), and usually contain only a single seed. It has leaves that often clasp the stem at the base.
Isatis tinctoria—Dyer’s Woad
Dyer’s Woad is a robust biennial or short-lived perennial herb, 30-120 cm tall, with smooth bluish-green stems and a low rosette of soft, bluish-green, slightly hairy leaves. In its second year it produced branched, flat-topped flower heads with hundreds of tiny bright yellow flowers, followed by unique teardrop-shaped, single-seeded, winged, indehiscent silicles that hang downward. This Eurasian weed has been widely naturalized in semi-arid temperate regions around the world due to its historical use as a source of blue dye. This one was near Spanish Fork, Utah, United States.
The Sisymbrieae are always herbs, often highly branched with highly variable leaves from basal rosettes to deeply pinnatifid stem leaves, often lacking hairs or covered in simple hairs. The usually yellow flowers are in terminal racemes, and fruits are slender, elongated, cylindrical siliques that split in two halves to reveal a single row of wingless seeds in each chamber.
Sisymbrium loeselii—False London Rocket
False London Rocket is a Eurasian Sisymbrieae tribe member that has been introduced across much of North America. It is an annual or biennial herb, 30-100 cm tall, with mostly smooth, branched upper stems and downward-pointing hairs on the lower stems. It has terminal clusters of bright yellow flowers and produces slender ascending fruits (siliques) shown here below the flowers. I found this one growing on the side of a road in Cherryville, BC, Canada.
The Thelypodae are mostly medium to tall biennial or perennial herbs, with a few annuals, that are either hairless or covered in simple, unbranched hairs. A key trait is the floral parts (stamens, styles, etc.) that extend far beyond (exserted) the petals, giving the flowers a delicate appearance. Fruits are usually long, slender siliques that sit on short stalks above the flower base. This tribe is unusual among the Brassicodae in that its distribution is heavily centered in North America, especially the western United States, rather than the Old World.
Stanleya pinnata—Prince’s Plume
Stanleya pinnata has bright yellow flowers with conspicuous floral parts that extend past the petals, which is typical for the Thelypodae supertribe but rare in the rest of the Brassicaceae family. It grows 0.5-1.5 m tall with waxy blue-green leaves and produces very long pod-like fruits (siliques) up to 8 cm long that droop on their thread-like stalks (gynophores). It is native to western North America. thriving in desert scrub, sagebrush, badlands, and shale outcrops.
The Thlaspideae are mostly hairless herbaceous Brassicaceae members that are often waxy blue-green with simple leaves typically featuring arrow-shaped (sagitate) bases that clasp the stem. Flowers are in elongated clusters and consist of four small, almost universally white or light pink petals. The tribe is best known for its distinctive flattened, coin-shaped fruits (silicles) with papery wings and a distinct notch in the top. They are native to temperate Eurasia and North Africa but have been naturalized across North America.
Thlaspi arvense—Field Pennycress
Thlaspi arvense is an annual herb, 10-80 cm tall, that is hairless and emits a pungent odor when crushed. Basal leaves often wither by flowering time, while its lance-shaped, toothed leaves with arrow-shaped bases clasp the stem while flowering. Its coin-like fruits are up to 2 cm wide with broad papery wings and a deep notch, characteristic of the Thlaspideae tribe. This one was alongside Highway 97 in Thompson-Nicola, BC, Canada.
The Boechereae tribe are part of the Camelinodae, the second-largest supertribe in the Brassicaceae family. This tribe is mostly made of perennial herbs that grow from a persistent woody root crown (caudex) and form distinct basal rosettes of leaves covered in branched, two-branched, or star-shaped hairs. Stem leaves are often arrow-shaped or ear-shaped at the base and clasp the stem. Flowers come in various colors and produce long, slender, flattened pod-like fruits (siliques) with seeds with thin papery wings. These are almost exclusively native to North American alpine peaks, desert ranges, and rocky forests.
Boechera retrofracta—Reflexed Rockcress
Boechera retrofracta is a slender, erect biennial or short-lived perennial, 20-80 cm tall, from a simple or sparingly branched woody root crown. It has grayish basal leaves covered in star-shaped hairs and narrow stem leaves with ear-shaped clasping bases. It is easy to identify by its seed pods, which are straight siliques 3-7 cm long that bend sharply downward on short stalks to hang against the main stem. This one was growing in Edgwood, BC, Canada.
The Camelineae are mostly annual or biennial herbs, with a few perennials, that are covered in a mix of star-shaped, branched, or branched-forked hairs, often with simple hairs as well. Simple, toothed to pinnately lobed leaves have bases that often clasp the stem. Flowers vary in color and are followed by variable fruits from elongated narrow pods (siliques) to short pear or globe-shaped fruits (silicles) with many small, mucilaginous seeds. It is mostly native to the temperate and cold Northern Hemisphere, especially Eurasia, but many are weedy and now have a cosmopolitan distribution.
Capsella bursa-pastoris—Shepherd’s Purse
Capsella bursa-pastoris, or Shepherd’s Purse, is a cosmopolitan weed formerly native to Eurasia; this one was in Vernon, BC, Canada. It is a low-growing annual, 10-50 cm tall, with a prominent basal rosette of variable leaves and mixed hairs and produces small, white, four-petaled flowers in terminal clusters. An easy way to recognize them is by their heart-shaped seed pods (silicles) attached on thin, threadlike stalks. It derives its name from the pods that resembled leather pouches that European shepherds used to carry on their belts.
The Cardamineae are another global tribe, but they’re most diverse in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, including North America, typically found in cool, moist habitats, especially stream sides, wetlands, damp meadows, and shaded forests in temperate, subalpine, and arctic zones. They are mostly hairless herbs or with simple hairs and have leaves that are often compound or deeply pinnately lobed. Fruits are mostly long, slender, cylindrical, or flattened seed pods that in the core genus Cardamine have famously explosive seed dispersal mechanisms.
Barbarea vulgaris—Bittercress
Barbarea vulgaris is another Eurasian and African native that has widely naturalized across the world, including North and South America. It is a biennial or short-lived perennial, 30-90 cm tall, with hairless, often glossy leaves and a basal rosette of leaves with a wide terminal lobe and smaller lateral lobes (lyrate–pinnatifid). Its showy terminal clusters of bright yellow flowers are followed by slender four-angled cylindrical seed pods (siliques) up to 3 cm long that point stiffly up or out.
The Descurainieae are mostly herbs or occasional woody subshrubs, known for their deeply divided leaves (2-3 times pinnately compound), which give them a lacy appearance. Various hairs impart the leaves with a greyish look. Flowers are usually pale yellow or white and are followed by very long, slender cylindrical pods (siliques) with semi-transparent valves that reveal the seeds inside. They are native across temperate and cold regions around the world, with major centers of diversity in North America and the Mediterranean, with a smaller center in the South American Andes.
Descurainia pinnata—Western Tansy Mustard
Descurainia pinnata is a variable annual member of the Brassicaceae that grows 10-70 cm tall, with single or branched stems and a mix of hairs, including glandular ones. Leaves are 1-3 times pinnately divided into narrow lobes, and the fruits are short, narrow siliques containing 2 rows of reddish-orange seeds. It is native across North America from Canada and Alaska south to northern Mexico.
The Erysimeae is a small monogeneric tribe made of the Erysimum genus, also called the wallflowers, which has 294 species found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Its diversity is centered around the Mediterranean, Southwest Asia, and western North America, favoring open, dry, sunny, and rocky environments. They are mostly herbs with distinctive 2- to 5-forked hairs appressed to the surface, giving the leaves a greyish and rough feel. Flowers are typically showy and fragrant, ranging from bright yellow and deep orange to reddish purple.
Erysimum capitatum—Western Wallflower
Erysimum capitatum is a showy member of the Erysimeae tribe of Brassicaceae, native to western and central North America, where it grows in open, dry environments from dunes and desert shrubs to alpine slopes. Its sweet-scented flowers come in a wide variety of showy colors, and it produces long, four-angled siliques up to 10 cm long. This one was in the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico, USA.
The Lepideae tribe are mostly herbs and occasional subshrubs, known for their distinctive flat 2-seeded fruits (silicles) that are round, oval, or heart-shaped. They are hairless or covered in simple hairs and have variable leaves and flowers that are usually very small and white, greenish, or yellowish. It is a nearly cosmopolitan Brassicaceae tribe with high diversity in temperate and arid North America, Eurasia, Australia, and South America.
Lepidium alyssoides—Mesa Pepperwort
Lepidium alyssoides is a perennial herb or subshrub up to 50 cm tall from a woody base (caudex). It has linear to narrowly lance-shaped leaves and produces relatively showy flowers (for the genus). Fruits are small oval silicles with a slight notch in the tip. They are native to North America, especially the southwestern United States. This one was in Carrizozo, NM, USA.
The Physarieae are low-growing perennial herbs (some annuals) adapted to dry, harsh environments and are characterized by a dense, felty covering of branched star-shaped (stellate) or tree-like (dendritic) hairs. Most flowers are yellow, but exceptions exist. Their fruits are easy to spot—inflated bladder-like or double-pouched silicles that act like flotation devices or wind sails for seed dispersal. They are heavily concentrated in arid and semi-arid regions of western North America.
Nerisyrenia camporum—Bicolor Fanmustard
Nerisyrenia camporum has a distinctive gray-green velvety covering of hairs, with flowers that are exceptionally large and colorful for the Brassicaceae and often change color as they age, giving them the bicolor species epithet. Unlike most in the Physarieae tribe, it produces 4-angled siliques up to 3 cm long. Native to North America, mostly concentrated around the Chihuahuan Desert, where this one was found.
Physaria fendleri—Fendler’s Bladderpod
Fendler’s bladderpod is a low-growing perennial herb from a compact basal rosette and covered in star-shaped (stellate) hairs. Flowers are a showy bright yellow, often with an orange-yellow eye. It produces small, rounded, singular bladder-like fruits, not double like most of its genus. It’s native to North America, especially the southwestern United States.
The Biscutelleae are annual or perennial herbs (occasionally subshrubs) that are hairless or covered in simple, unbranched hairs and have variable leaves. Flowers are mostly bright yellow or white, but pink or purple are also seen. It produces distinctive flattened fruits, like the well-known money plant (Lunaria annua), and in Biscutella, the fruits are double disks. These Brassicaceae are mostly Old World, concentrated around the Mediterranean, with some native members in the Americas, mostly found in South America but introduced elsewhere.
Lunaria annua—Money Plant
Lunaria annua is a mostly biennial herb that can grow up to 1 m tall, with stout stems covered in stiff, simple hairs and heart-shaped leaves. Flowers are showy, fragrant, clawed, and usually some shade of purple. It produces large coin-sized flat fruits that give it its common name. It is native to southern Europe but widely introduced in North America.
The Euclidieae tribe is an extremely diverse group of herbs that includes low desert annuals and high-alpine cushion plants. Hair types and leaf types are also variable, but well-developed basal rosettes are common in montane genera. Flowers and fruits are also highly variable morphologically. They are mostly native to Central Asia, but some have a circumpolar/arctic/alpine distribution that includes North America, and others are introduced globally.
Strigosella africana—African Mustard
Strigosella africana is a coarse annual herb with sturdy, branching stems covered with stiff (hispid) hairs. Leaves are roughly lance-shaped and may have wavy-toothed (sinuate–dentate) margins. Flowers are small, pink to purple, followed by narrowly linear four-angled siliques up to 6 cm long. It is native to the Mediterranean, North Africa, and east into Central Asia, and it is introduced elsewhere. This one was on a roadside in Grand County, Utah, USA.
The Hesperideae is a monogeneric tribe (Hesperis) of biennial or perennial herbs (rarely annuals) that are often tall and covered with a mix of simple hairs and distinct forked or glandular multicellular hairs that are frequently sticky or aromatic, though some are almost hairless. Flowers are often large, fragrant, and showy with saccate inner sepals that store nectar. Fruits are narrow, linear, and cylindrical to slightly four-angled or flattened siliques. They are mostly Eurasian, centered around Southwest Asia.
Hesperis matronalis—Dame’s Rocket
Dame’s Rocket is a short-lived perennial or biennial herb reaching 1.2 m tall with a mix of hairs giving it a rough or sticky feel. Leaves are simple, 5–15 cm long, with finely toothed margins and pointed tips. Showy flowers in various colors emit a strong sweet scent in the late afternoon. Native to Europe, it is introduced in North America. This one was in Lavington, BC, Canada.
Uses of the Brassicaceae Family
The Brassicaceae family is of huge economic importance, with members of the Brassica genus being used for cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli from Brassica oleracea. We also used them for canola oil (Brassica napus ssp. napus) and for root crops, like turnips and radishes.
Many are also used ornamentally, like alyssum, wallflowers (Erysimum), sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima), money plant (Lunaria annua), candytuft (Iberis), and others.
Outside of edible uses, the Brassicaceae are also widely used in soil and mining reclamation because they not only grow on poor, contaminated soils, but more than 100 species are known hyperaccumulators. Hyperaccumulators are species that actively take in and accumulate heavy metals like nickel and zinc from the ground. If you then harvest those plants, you can effectively remove those metals from the soil.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Brassicaceae
The Brassicaceae, or mustard family, is immensely important for pollinators. Although they vary significantly in nectar production, studies on wallflowers (Erysimum) recorded over 700 different species of insect visitors, showing just how important members are for sustaining local insect populations.
Since they can grow in poor soils, many members are pioneers in cold, dry, disturbed, rocky, or otherwise harsh terrains, like the many “cushion plants” that grow in arctic and high alpine environments.
The mustard family derives its sharp, bitter flavors from a chemical defense called glucosinolates to prevent herbivores from eating them. Still, specialized insects have evolved to safely eat them, even being attracted to the smell. Some insects even absorb the toxic mustard oils into their own bodies to protect themselves from predators. However, these mustard oils have also allowed some species to become highly invasive because those same oils suppress the mycorrhizal fungi that many plants need to survive.
Finally, many mustards can also be highly invasive because they mature rapidly and produce thousands of easily dispersed seeds, allowing them to outcompete native species, especially in disturbed and arid environments.
Taxonomy of the Brassicaceae Family
The Brassicaceae are part of the Brassicales order within the core dicot lineage. It is a relatively large family, with approximately 4,140 species in 349 genera, divided into 2 subfamilies, 57–59 tribes, and 5 supertribes. See German et al. (2023) for the latest tribal delineation.
Like many plant families, the Brassicaceae have undergone substantial reorganization thanks to modern nuclear and plastic phylogenomics. As a result, the number of tribes has exploded, currently totaling 57 to 59. To make it more manageable, recent work has introduced 5 supertribes within the Brassicoideae subfamily.
One issue is that the taxonomy of the Brassicaceae has been misinterpreted at the generic level because of convergent evolution across almost all lineages. Additional issues include a high degree of hybridization and the fact that about half of extant species show signs of recent polyploidization (genome duplication). Numerous ‘rogue’ taxa with unstable placements are also present. Thus, while I have done my best to use up-to-date information as provided by authoritative sources (see references), this family is in flux, and I will update it as new information becomes available.
Genera of the Brassicaceae Family:
Aethionemoideae Subfamily
This subfamily consists of a single genus of typically spiny subshrubs and perennial or annual herbs. Plants are hairless and have entire, often fleshy leaves that are distinctly articulated between the petiole and the blade. Their flowers have no bracts, typically have 3 veins on the petal claws, and typically have stamens with winged filaments. Fruits are few-seeded, dehiscent, winged silicles or indehiscent, 1-seeded samaras. Members are mostly in the Mediterranean and southern Europe, extending eastward into Afghanistan.
Aethionema (68).
Brassicoideae Subfamily
The Brassicoideae are the vast majority of the family and are now chemically defined by the structural elaborations of glucosinolates. Morphologically, members are variable. They have petals that are sometimes fringed or lobed and stamens reduced to two or four or are notably elongated. The gynoecium is occasionally elevated on a short stalk (stipitate) with a long style. The resulting capsular fruits vary widely, and the seeds are sometimes winged. It has a worldwide distribution, favoring drier environments and reaching its highest diversity across the North Temperate region, Tajikistan, and Turkey, while relatively few are found in Australia and southern Africa.
Because this subfamily consists of all but 1 genus, and there are too many tribes to reasonably make sense of here, we will break this subfamily down into the 5 supertribes.
Arabodae Supertribe
The Arobodae include the rockcress and alyssums that are defined by the presence of branched or stellate hairs (simple hairs are rarely exclusive) and the absence of multicellular glands. The leaves are mostly undivided, frequently clasping or auriculate at the base. They are mostly restricted to the Northern Hemisphere, with some extending along the high alpine zones of the South American Andes.
The Brassicodae are the largest supertribe, containing the familiar “cabbage” alliance. These are heavily concentrated around the Mediterranean basin, Southwest Asia and extend into Europe and Africa. There are some native representatives in the American continents, along with multiple introduced weedy species. Members are defined by having conduplicate cotyledons where the young leaves fold longitudinally to cradle the embryonic root. Fruits are often segmented siliques that break transversely and are chemically characterized by complex methionine-derived glucosinolates that give them their sharp, signature mustard flavor.
The Camelinodae is a very diverse group with a cosmopolitan distribution, although it has the greatest diversification in the temperate hemisphere in Eurasia and North America, especially in the United States, which has relatively high endemism in this tribe. Since they are so diverse, it is very difficult to make meaningful morphological comparisons. It also contains several genera whose placement here is still uncertain, so that may change in time. Still, fruits vary from slender, exploding siliques to small, compressed silicles. Hairs range from absent to simple, branched, or stellate, and cotyledons are also not only variable but highly plastic.
The Heliophilodae have more unique morphological anomalies compared to the rest of the family, including multi-lobed or deeply dissected leaves, unusual stamens, and dicyclic or uniquely folded cotyledons. Fruits are diverse and include standard siliques as well as specialized, transversely jointed lomentaceous fruits that split into one-seeded segments. This supertribe is more limited in distribution, centered around southern Africa and Australia, but with scattered genera found elsewhere, including throughout the American continents.
The Hesperodae are a very deep-branching lineage within the core Brassicaceae that is mostly distributed across the arid and mountainous regions of Asia and eastern Europe, with only a few native to the Americas and others that are introduced. Morphologically members often have simple, forked, or glandular hairs and have elongated linear siliques or specialized nut-like indehiscent silicles. Some species are known for having showy, fragrant, ornamental flowers.
The sister family Cleomaceae is sometimes confused with the Brassicaceae, but they can typically be separated in the field by their often assymetrical flowers and their very long spider-like stamens that extend beyond the petals.
The Onagraceae family often has flowers with 4 petals and long seed capsules that look similar to Brassicaceae. However, the Brassicaceae always have alternate leaves, while the Onagraceae look-alikes typically have opposite leaves, and they have 8 stamens instead of 6 and a prominent 4-lobed stigma.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Brassicaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Brassicaceae Family
The Brassicaceae are almost entirely made of self-supporting annual, bienniel, and perennial herbs, with or without a basal aggregation of leaves, although pachycaul shrubs and climbing lianas are uncommonly seen. They are hydrophytic (rooted), helophytic, mesophytic, or xerophytic. Plants are mostly normal, but occasional switch plants and succulents also occur. Most are autotrophic, although protocarnivory is seen in the mucilage secreted by Capsella bursa-pastoris seeds, which contains compounds that attract soil organisms, toxins that kill them, and digestive enzymes that break down their proteins into amino acids for the developing seedlings to use.
Leaves are usually arranged in an alternate spiral but can rarely be distichous. They are sometimes conspicuously heterophyllous, are minute to very large, and are usually odorless or sometimes foetid. Leaves are usually herbaceous but occasionally are fleshy. When hydrophytic, the leaves are submerged and emergent.
Leaves may be petiolate, subsessile, or sessile, and they can be sheathing or non-sheathing, but they are always (or almost always?) lacking stipules. Blades are usually simple, but in rare instances they may be compound pinnate and may have articulated leaflets. When simple, the lamina is entire or dissected, pinnatifid or runcinate, and mostly pinnately veined and cross-venulate or rarely one-veined, with margins that are entire, serrate, or dentate.
Flowers of the Brassicaceae Family
Flowers are hermaphroditic and almost always have floral nectaries with secretion from the perianth, disk, and androecium. Pollination is mostly entomophilous or occasionally anemophilous (e.g., Pringlea). Flowers are aggregated in corymbs (often), racemes, spikes, or fascicles but occasionally are solitary or nearly pseudanthial. They are terminal, axillary, or leaf-opposed (e.g., Coronopus).
The perianth has a distinct calyx and corolla with 8 parts in total, but occasionally the corolla is lacking. When the corolla is present, the flower is characteristically 3-whorled, with the 4 sepals divided into two layers (most obvious in the bud), with the outer pair median (sitting opposite and aligned with the flower midline) and the inner pair at 90 degrees to form a characteristic cross pattern. The calyx is free and regular, with some members dimorphic and the lateral (inner) pair may be basally saccate for nectar storage.
Flowers usually lack bracts and bracteoles, though occasionally they are present. They are minute to medium in size and fragrant or odorless. They are usually more or less regular or somewhat irregular, involving the perianth when the outer petals of the pseudanthium are sometimes radiate and larger.
Flowers are 2-merous and polycyclic (usually 6) or sometimes tetracyclic to pentacyclic. The floral receptacle is nearly always lacking both an androphore and a gynophore, except for the long, slender gynophore of Stanleyea. A hypogynous disk is nearly always present and may be extrastaminal, intrastaminal, or both. It may consist of separate members, usually in variable configurations of taxonomic interest, or it may be annular and confluent.
The corolla has 4 parts in 1 whorl, with free petals that are imbricate or contorted and often cruciform in white, yellow, orange, purple, or blue. Petals are usually clawed but are sometimes sessile (e.g., Geococcus).
Androecium of the Brassicaceae Family
The androecium of the Brassicaceae typically consists of 6 members, but it can occasionally have 2-4 members or, more rarely, 8-16 members. They are usually arranged in 2 whorls (2+4) or, rarely, 1. Members are usually branched, with the inner whorl of 4 deriving from only 2 primordia, or they may be unbranched. They are free of the perianth and are conspicuously unequal, with the outer pair usually shorter, often showing a characteristic 4 long and 2 short pattern, although sometimes they are all equal. Members may be free of one another or coherent, with the inner 4 sometimes basally connate in pairs.
All members are exclusively fertile stamens that are nearly always tetradynamous, except when the outer pair is missing. They are arranged opposite the sepals. Filaments may or may not be appendiculate. Anthers are basifixed, non-versatile, and dehiscing via longitudinal slits; they are introrse, unilocular to bilocular, tetrasporangiate, and may be variously appendaged or unappendaged.
Gynoecium of the Brassicaceae Family
The gynoecium of the Brassicaceae family is always 2-carpelled, with a syncarpous ovary that is also always superior. The ovary is 1–2 locular, with locules secondarily divided by false septa, usually seen in the longitudinal splitting of the parietal placentas by the replum, but occasionally they have no false septa (e.g., Menkea). The ovary is usually sessile or rarely stipitate.
There is a single terminal style of varying length, sometimes long and prominent, but it can be reduced or even absent. There are 1–2 stigmas that are commissural (mostly when 2 or bilobed) or dorsal to the carpels (e.g., Matthiola, Moricandia), 1 or 2 lobed, more or less capitate, dry and papillate.
Placentation is always parietal, but when bilocular, often the two placentas are each longitudinally divided by a false septum, with the replum separating the locules. There are 1–50 ovules per locule that are often pendulous or sometimes horizontal and have a ventral raphe; they are non-arillate, anatropous, bitegmic, and tenuinucellate or crassinucellate.
Fruit of the Brassicaceae Family
Fruits of the Brassicaceae are primarily characterized by dehiscent valvular silicles or siliques, with valves typically falling or spreading upwards to reveal the replum and sometimes exhibiting variations that include partial or complete lomentaceous forms. They may sometimes be lomentaceous (Cakile, Crambe, Coronopus, etc.), indehiscent capsules, or rarely a schizocarp with 2 mericarps (sometimes in Coronopus).
Seeds have no or scant endosperm, are small to medium in size, and are usually wingless, but in select taxa (e.g., Matthiola, Isatis) they are winged.
Global Distribution of the Brassicaceae Family
The Brassicaceae are a cosmopolitan family found worldwide, mostly in the northern temperate and Mediterranean regions, with some diversity also in the Southern Hemisphere, except for relatively few genera in Australia and southern Africa. It tolerates extreme cold, with many genera endemic to high alpine areas around the world and multiple genera found in Arctic Canada, Greenland, and the southern tip of South America. It also includes the curious Pringlea, a monospecific genus endemic to the sub-Antarctic islands just north of Antarctica and southeast of South Africa.
Distribution of the Brassicaceae in the American Continents
Canadian Brassicaceae Genera
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Arabodae Supertribe in Canada
Alyssum 2 spp. intro to S Canada exc. NB, NS, PE, and Labrador, and ephemeral on NL Island; Arabis 7 spp. mostly N temperate genus native to all of Canada, inc. Arctic (& Greenland), but exc. PE;Athysanus 1 sp. W NAM endemic genus native to BC;Aubrieta 1 sp. intro to BC; Aurinia 1 sp. intro to ON, ephemeral QC;Berteroa 1 sp. intro to most of Canada exc. NU, PE, and NL;Draba 58 spp. subcosmopolitan genus native to all of Canada, inc. the Arctic (& Greenland); Odontarrhena 2 spp. native to YT and intro to BC, AB, and ON and ephemeral QC; Tomostima 1 sp. Americas genus native to BC, AB, SK, MB, and ON.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Brassicodae Supertribe in Canada
Alliaria 1 sp. intro to BC, ON, QC, NB, NS, and NL Island; Aphragmus 1 sp. native to BC and the YK;Brassica 5 spp. intro to most of Canada (& Greenland) exc. NU;Cakile 2 spp. native to ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, and NL (and Greenland) and intro to BC;Cochlearia 2 spp. N temperate genus native to BC, YT, NU, NT, MB, ON, QC, NS, NL (& Greenland);Conringia 1 sp. intro to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, NL Island, and PE?;Diplotaxis 3 spp. intro to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE?;Eruca 1 sp. intro to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, and ephemeral QC;Erucastrum 1 sp. intro to most of Canada exc. YT, NU, and possibly Labrador;Eutrema 2 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, QC, Labrador, YT, NT, and NU (& Greenland); Isatis 1 sp. intro to BC, ON, NL Island, and ephemeral QC; Mutarda 1 sp. intro to S Canada exc. MB and Labrador; Myagrum 1 sp. intro to QC; Noccaea 2 spp. inc. 1 native to YT and 1 intro to ON and QC; Raphanus 1 sp. intro to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, and NL (and Greenland); Rapistrum 2 spp. ephemeral intro to ON, QC, and SK?;Sinapis 2 spp. intro to all of Canada (& Greenland) except NU; Sisymbrium 5 spp. native to BC, YT, and NT, and introduced to AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, and NL Island (& Greenland); Thelypodium 2 spp. NAM endemic genus native to BC;Thlaspi 1 sp. intro to most of Canada, inc. Arctic (and Greenland) exc. NU; Thysanocarpus 1 sp. W NAM endemic genus native to BC.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Camelinodae Supertribe in Canada
Arabidopsis 4 spp. mostly N temperate genus native to almost all of Canada (& Greenland) exc. NB, NS, and PE, and intro NL Island;Armoracia 1 sp. intro to most of S Canada exc. NL and intro YT; Barbarea 4 spp. native to most of Canada inc. the Arctic, but intro in PE, NS;Boechera 22 spp. mostly NAM genus native to most of Canada, inc. Arctic (& Greenland) but exc. NU, PE;Borodinia 3 spp. of mostly E NAM endemic genus native to ON, QC (8th spp. is Russian);Camelina 3 spp. introduced to all of Canada, including the Arctic, but excluding NU, Labrador, and PE; Capsella 1 sp. introduced to all of Canada, including the Arctic (& Greenland);Cardamine 27 spp. of cosmopolitan genus native to all of Canada, inc. Arctic (& Greenland); Crucihimalaya 2 spp. N temperate genus native to AB, SK, YT, NT, and NU (and Greenland); Descurainia 7 spp. subcosmopolitan genus native to most of Canada, inc. the Arctic, but introduced in PE and NL (and Greenland); Erysimum 10 spp. N temperate genus native to most of Canada inc. the Arctic (& Greenland), but intro to Labrador and PE; Hornungia 1 sp. native to BC, NL, QC, and intro to SK, MB; Lepidium 16 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, YT, NT, and intro to QC, NB, NS, PE, NL (and Greenland); Malcolmia 1 sp. intro to ON?; Nasturtium 3 spp. intro to BC, AB, SK, MB, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL Island, native to ON; Neslia 1 sp. intro to all of Canada exc. Labrador, NU, PE?; Physaria 8 spp. native to most of Canada, including the Arctic (& Greenland), except ON, NB, NS, PE; Rorippa 17 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of Canada, inc. the Arctic (and introduced to Greenland);Sandbergia 1 sp. N NAM endemic genus native to BC;Smelowskia 5 spp. native to BC, AB, YT, NT; Turritis 1 sp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, intro to YT, NT.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Heliophilodae Supertribe in Canada
Iberis 2 spp. ephemeral to BC, ON, QC, NS, PE; Idahoa monospecific NW NAM endemic genus native to BC; Ionopsidium 1 sp. intro BC;Lobularia 1 sp. intro BC, ON, QC;Lunaria 1 sp. intro BC, MB, ON, QC, ephemeral NS; Subularia 1 sp. native to most of Canada, including the Arctic (& Greenland), except AB and PE; Teesdalia 1 sp. intro to BC.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Hesperodae Supertribe in Canada
Braya 8 spp. native to most of Canada, including Arctic (& Greenland), but excluding SK, NB, PE, and NS (subarctic and subalpine spp.); Bunias 1 sp. intro to BC, QC, and ephemeral NB and NS;Chorispora 1 sp. intro to BC and ephemeral SK and MB;Hesperis 1 sp. intro to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL Island, and NT; Matthiola 2 spp. introduced to AB, SK, ON, and BC; Parrya 2 spp. native to BC, YT, NT, and NU, with 1 sp. extirpated in BC; Strigosella 1 sp. intro to SK.
USA Brassicaceae Genera
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Arabodae Supertribe in the USA
Abdra 2 spp. USA endemic genus of OR, AZ, KS, OK, TX, MO, AR, LA, IL, IN, OH, KY, TN, VA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC; Alyssum 8 spp. intro to much of the USA and AK but exc. AZ, TX, OK, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, DE, and NH;Arabis 8 spp. N temperate genus native to most of the USA, inc. AK but exc. TX, LA, SC, and FL, inc. 3 narrow endemics of CA (2) and WA (1); Athysanus 2 spp. W NAM endemic genus native to WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, NV, UT, AZ; Aubrieta 1 sp. intro to CA, UT, MO; Aurinia 2 spp. intro to WA, UT, CO, MI, OH, NY, VT, NH, MA, CT, VA; Berteroa 2 spp. intro to most of the USA, inc. AK, but exc. LA, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC;Draba 99 spp. native and intro to all of the USA and native to AK; Odontarrhena 2 spp. inc. 1 native to AK and 1 intro to OR, UT, and CO; Tomostima 4 spp. native to most of the USA except WV, VA, MD, DE, VT, NH, and ME.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Brassicodae Supertribe in the USA
Alliaria 1 sp. intro to much of the USA, inc. AK but exc. CA, NV, AZ, NM, MT, WY, SD, TX, LA, MS, AL, FL; Aphragmus 1 sp. native to AK;Brassica 8 spp. intro to all of the USA, inc. AK and HI;Cakile 5 spp. intro to WA, OR, AK, and CA and native in TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, WI, IL, IN, OH, MI, PA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, NH, ME; Calepina 1 sp. intro to MD, VA, NC;Carrichtera monospecific intro to CA; Chlorocrambe monospecific USA endemic of ID, OR, UT;Cochlearia 2 spp. N temperate genus native to WA, OR, CA, and AK;Coincya 1 sp. intro to CA, NV, AZ, NM, TX, MI, NY, PA, NJ, MD, KY, NC; Conringia 1 sp. intro to most of the USA, inc. AK exc. LA; Crambe 1 sp. intro to OR and CA; Diplotaxis 4 spp. intro to most of the USA, except WA, NV, WY, ND, OK, MO, MS, TN, GA, NC, WV, VT, NH; Dryopetalon 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to AZ, NM, TX, and the rest endemic to Mexico; Eruca 2 spp. intro to WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX, MT, WY, ND, NE, KS, IA, MO, IL, MI, NC, WV, MD, NJ, PA, NY, CT, MA, VT; Erucastrum 1 sp. intro to most of the USA, inc. AK, but exc. NV, AZ, NM, CO, NE, OK, AR, LA, MS, TN, GA, RI; Eutrema 2 spp. native to CO, MT, and AK; Hesperidanthus 5 spp. S NAM endemic genus native CA (1 endemic to Inyo Mtns), UT (3 endemics), AZ, CO, NM, TX; Hirschfeldia monospecific intro to OR, CA, NV, ID, AZ, and HI;Isatis 1 sp. intro to W USA from MT S to NM and all W exc. AZ and inc. IL, WV, VA, NJ, PA; Moricandia 1 sp. intro VA; Mostacillastrum 2 spp. Americas genus native to AZ, NM, TX; Mummenhoffia 1 sp. intro to MO, LA, IN, OH, PA, NJ, KY, TN, GA, NC, VA, WV, MD, DE; Mutarda 1 sp. intro to all of the USA, inc. AK and HI; Myagrum 1 sp. intro to OK, TX, and OH; Noccaea 2 spp. inc. 1 native to the W USA from MT S to NM and all W inc. TX and AK, and 1 sp. intro to WA, KS, OK, IA, MO, AR, LA, IL, IN, OH, PA, NJ, NY, KY, TN, WV, VA, MD, NC;Orychophragmus 1 sp. intro to VA; Phravenia monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to TX; Raphanus 1 sp. intro to most of the USA inc. AK and HI and exc. SD, OK; Rapistrum 1 sp. intro to OR, CA, NV, NM, TX, LA, MO, WI, IL, IN, TN, SC, PA, NJ, NY, PA, MA, and HI;Sibara 2 spp. native to CA and NV, inc. 1 endemic to CA; Sinapis 2 spp. intro to all of the USA inc. AK and HI;Sisymbrium 10 spp. native to WA, OR, ID, MT, WY, CO, NV, UT, AZ, NM, and intro everywhere else, including AK and HI; Stanleya 7 spp. NAM endemic genus native to most of the W USA from ND S to TX and all W exc. OK, WA, inc. 6 W USA endemics; Streptanthus 58 spp. NAM endemic genus native, inc. 56 endemics, to W USA from MT S to TX plus OK, KS, AR, LA;Terraria monospecific narrow endemic genus of UT; Thelypodiopsis 8 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NV, UT, AZ, WY, CO, NM, TX, including 6 USA endemics; Thelypodium 16 spp. NAM endemic genus native to W USA from ND S to TX and all W exc. KS;Thlaspi 2 spp. intro to all of USA and AK but exc. AL; Thysanocarpus 4-7 spp. W NAM endemic genus native WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM;Warea 4 spp. SE USA endemic genus of AL, GA, FL, SC, and NC.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Camelinodae Supertribe in the USA
Anelsonia monospecific W USA endemic genus of CA, NV, ID, and MT; Arabidopsis 3 spp. intro to most of W USA exc. NV, ND, WY, CO, NM, and AZ and native to WA and most of the E USA exc. FL and intro to NH and ME; Armoracia 1 sp. intro to most of the USA exc. AZ, NM, TX, OK, AR, MS, AL, GA, SC, VA;Barbarea 3 spp. native to W USA MT S to NM and all W plus SD, MN, WI, and AK, and intro to most of the E half of the USA exc. TX, LA; Boechera 80-100 spp. native to W USA from ND S to TX and all W exc. KS and OK and inc. MI, WI, MN, IA, IL, OH, NY, MA, VT, NH, ME, with a very high degree of narrow endemism; Borodinia 7 spp. mostly E NAM endemic genus native to E USA from ND S to TX and all E exc. ND, LA, RI (other sp. is Russian), inc. 4 endemic to E USA; Camelina 3 spp. intro most of the USA, inc. AK, exc. AL, FL;Capsella 1 sp. intro all of the USA, inc. AK and HI;Cardamine 41spp. of cosmopolitan genus native (and intro?) all of the USA but native in AK and intro HI; Crucihimalaya1 sp. N temperate genus native CA, NV, ID, MT, WY, UT, CO, and AK; Cusickiella 2 spp. W USA endemic genus of WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, UT;Descurainia 8 spp. native and intro to most of the USA, incl. AK but exc. AL, intro to HI;Dimorphocarpa 3 spp. S NAM endemic native to NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, KS, OK, TX, incl. 1 USA endemic; Dithyrea 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, AZ; Erysimum 22 spp. native and intro to most of the USA inc. AK, exc. GA; Halimolobos 6 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to W USA from MT S to NM and all W exc. OR and inc. TX; Hornungia 1 sp. native to W USA from MT S to NM and all W exc. NM;Iodanthus monospecific USA endemic genus of KS, OK, TX, MN, IA, MO, AR, WI, IL, KY, TN, AL, IN, OH, WV, PA, NJ, CT;Leavenworthia 8 spp. SE USA endemic genus of TX, OK, MO, AR, IN, OH, VA, KY, TN, AL, GA;Lepidium 47+ spp. native and intro to all of the USA, inc. HI and intro AK;Lyrocarpa 1 sp. SW NAM endemic genus native CA, AZ; Malcolmia 2 spp. intro W USA MT S to NM and all W plus KS, TX, MN, WI, IL, NY, NH;Mancoa 1 sp. Americas genus native to TX;Nasturtium 4 spp. inc. 2 native to CA and FL (1 endemic) and 2 intro to most of the rest of the USA inc. AK and HI, exc. ND;Nerisyrenia 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native NM (1 endemic) and TX; Neslia 1 sp. intro WA, OR, ID, ND, SD, MN, IA, MO, WI, IL, MI, IN, OH, PA, NJ, NY, CT, MA, VT, NH, ME, and AK;Nevada monospecific narrow endemic genus of NV; Paysonia 8 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to KS, OK, TX, TN, AL, KY, inc. 7 endemics, 4 of which are single-state endemics; Pennellia 1 sp. Americas genus native AZ, CO, NM, TX;Phoenicaulis monospecific W USA endemic genus of WA, OR, CA, NV, ID; Physaria ~95 spp. native to most of the USA, from WI S to MS and all W plus IN, OH, TN, KY, AL, VA, and AK, with very high endemism, esp. in CO, MT, NM, and TX; Planodes 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to CA, KS, OK, TX, IA, MO, AR, LA, IL, IN, OH, WV, VA, KY, TN, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC; Polyctenium monospecific W USA endemic genus of OR, CA, NV, ID;Rorippa 26 spp. intro and native in all of the USA inc. AK and intro HI; Sandbergia 2 spp. N NAM endemic native WA, ID, MT, inc. 1 endemic; Selenia 4 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NM, KS, OK, TX, MO, AR, inc. 3 USA endemics, 2 of which are endemic to TX; Smelowskia 7 spp. native to WA, OR, CA, NV, ID, MT, WY, CO, UT, and AK; Synthlipsis 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to TX; Tropidocarpum 3 spp. mostly NAM endemic genus native to CA (2 endemics), the other is disjunct in C Chile; Turritis 1 sp. native to much of the USA exc. ND, OK, TX, AR, LA, KY, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL, MD, DE, NJ; Yosemitea monospecific endemic genus of CA, NV.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Heliophilodae Supertribe in the USA
Iberis 5 spp. intro to OR, CA, MT, UT, CO, NM, MN, IA, WI, MI, OH, KY, TN, NC, WV, PA, NY, CT, MA, VT, NH, ME, and AK;Idahoa monospecific NW NAM endemic native WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, NV;Ionopsidium 1 sp. intro to OR, CA; Lobularia 1 sp. intro to much of the USA, inc. HI but exc. ND, SD, OK, AR, KY, TN, AL, GA, SC, DE, VT; Lunaria 2 spp. intro to WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, UT, CO, MN, IL, AR, GA, NC, VA, TN, KY, IN, OH, WV, MD, DE, PA, NJ, MI, NY, CT, RI, MA, VT, ME; Subularia 1 sp. native to WA, OR, CA, NV, ID, UT, WY, CO, MN, MI, NY, VT, NH, ME, and AK; Teesdalia 2 spp. intro to WA, OR, CA, ID, MI, IN, NY, MA, CT, PA, NJ, MD, DE, VA, NC, SC, GA.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Hesperodae Supertribe in the USA
Braya 1 sp. native to MT, WY, CO, and AK (subalpine spp.); Bunias 2 spp. intro MI, WI, OH, VA, PA, NJ, CT, NY, MA, VT, NH; Chorispora 1 sp. intro much of USA exc. WI, KY, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, RI, VT, NH, ME;Euclidium 1 sp. intro to WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, WY, CO, NV, UT, NE, MA;Hesperis 1 sp. intro to much of the USA inc. AK but exc. AZ, TX, OK, LA, MS, AL, FL, SC;Matthiola 2 spp. intro to OR, CA, ID, AZ, NM, TX, KS, IL, MI, NC;Parrya 2 spp. native to WY, UT, and AK; Strigosella 1 sp. intro to W USA from MT S to TX and all W exc WA, inc. IL, NY.
Mexico Brassicaceae Genera
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Arabodae Supertribe in Mexico
Athysanus 2 spp. W NAM endemic genus, native to BCN + BCS; Draba ~80 spp. native to all of Mexico, with the vast majority being narrow endemics of mountainous regions; Tomostima 3 spp. native to N Mexico.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Brassicodae Supertribe in Mexico
Brassica 2-4 spp. intro to most of Mexico exc. Ver, Chip, Tab, Cmp, Yuc, Ver; Cakile 2 spp. native to NE, SE Mexico, and Ver and intro to NW Mexico; Chaunanthus 4 spp. Mexican endemic genus of NE, SW, and C Mexico; Coincya 1 sp. intro to NW Mexico; Diplotaxis 1-2 spp. intro to N Mexico; Dryopetalon 9 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico, inc. 7 endemic to N Mexico; Eruca 1 sp. intro to most of Mexico exc. Cam, Tab, Yuc, QR, Ver; Eutrema 1 sp. native to NE Mexico; Hesperidanthus 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to N+C+SW Mexico; Hirschfeldia monospecific intro in NW Mexico; Mostacillastrum 3 spp. Americas genus native to NE+C Mexico, inc. 1 endemic to Mexico; Mutarda 1 sp. intro to NW+C Mexico; Noccaea 2 spp. native to N+C Mexico, inc. 1 endemic; Phravenia monospecific S. NAM endemic genus native to NE+C Mexico S to Pue; Raphanorhyncha monospecific endemic genus of NE Mexico; Raphanus 1 sp. intro to W+C Mexico; Rapistrum 1 sp. intro to NE+C Mexico;Romanschulzia 10 spp. Mexico & neoendemic genus endemic to NE, C, SW Mexico, and Ver; Sibara 4 spp. endemic to Mexico in BCN, BCS, and Son; Sinapis 1 sp. intro to NE+C Mexico;Sisymbrium 1-2 spp. intro to N+SW Mexico; Stanleya 1 sp. NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico; Streptanthus 3 spp. NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico; Thelypodiopsis 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native NL, Tmp, Chi; Thelypodium 3 spp. native to N+C Mexico; Thlaspi 1 sp. intro C Mexico; Thysanocarpus 3 spp. W NAM endemic genus native BCN, BCS, Son.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Camelinodae Supertribe in Mexico
Boechera ~11 spp. native throughout N Mexico; Capsella 2 spp., including 1 intro to W Mexico and 1 narrow endemic of Mor; Cardamine 11 spp., inc. 3 endemics of cosmopolitan genus native throughout all of Mexico; Descurainia ~5 spp. subcosmopolitan genus native to all of Mexico, including 3 endemics; Dimorphocarpa 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico, including 1 endemic to SLP; Dithyrea 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to NW Mexico; Erysimum 3 spp. native throughout Mexico, inc. 1 narrow endemic of Guadalupe Is.; Exhalimolobos 6 spp. mostly neoendemic genus native to NE, SW+C Mexico, and Ver, inc. 4 endemic to Mexico; Halimolobos 5 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico, inc. 2 endemics; Hornungia 1 sp. intro NW Mexico; Lepidium 15 spp. inc. several endemics native to all of Mexico; Lyrocarpa 3 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to NW Mexico inc. 1 endemic BCS and 1 island endemic of Is. Angel de la Guarda; Mancoa 5 spp. Americas genus native to NE Mexico S to Jal, inc. 4 endemic to Mexico; Nasturtium 2 spp., including 1 native to C+SE Mexico and 1 intro to the rest of Mexico;Nerisyrenia 8 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico, inc. several endemics esp. in Coa; Ornithocarpa 2 spp. Mexican endemic genus of N+SW Mexico; Paysonia 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico; Pennellia 5 spp. Americas endemic genus native to all of Mexico, including 3 endemics; Physaria ~9 spp. native to much of Mexico, except SE; Planodes 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N+SW Mexico, inc. 1-2 endemics; Rorippa 11 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of Mexico, inc. 3 endemics; Selenia 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico; Sphaerocardamum 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Mexico; Synthlipsis 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico inc. 1 endemic Coa; Tropidocarpum 1 sp. mostly NAM endemic genus native to BCN, BCS.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Heliophilodae Supertribe in Mexico
Asta monospecific narrow endemic genus of NE Mexico (SLP); Chorispora 1 sp. intro to NW Mexico;Lobularia 1 sp. intro NW+C Mexico; Scoliaxon monospecific endemic genus of NE Mexico.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Hesperodae Supertribe in Mexico
Matthiola 2 spp. intro to W Mexico.
Neotropical Brassicaceae Genera
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Arabodae Supertribe in the Neotropics
Alyssum 1 sp. intro N Argentina, C Chile; Arabis 1 sp. native to C Chile; Draba 82 spp. native to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, NE+S Argentina, and intro to NE Argentina, with the vast majority being endemic to alpine areas; Tomostima 2 spp. native to Peru (1 endemic), Argentina, C+S Chile, and Uruguay.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Brassicodae Supertribe in the Neotropics
Brassica 5 spp. intro CAM (exc. Costa Rica), Antilles, and SAM (exc. Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil); Cakile 1 sp. native to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Antilles, Colombia, and Venezuela and intro NE Argentina and Uruguay; Dictyophragmus 3 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru and NW Argentina; Diplotaxis 1 sp. intro Haiti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, Argentina, Uruguay; Englerocharis 6 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru and Bolivia; Eruca 1 sp. intro El Salvador, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, C Chile, Argentina; Erucastrum 1 sp. intro Ecuador; Hirschfeldia monospecific intro to Bolivia, N+C Chile, Argentina, Uruguay; Isatis 1 sp. intro Peru, C Chile; Ivania 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of N+C Chile; Machaerophorus monospecific narrow endemic genus of Peru; Mostacillastrum 29 spp. Americas genus native to Haiti, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, and Argentina; Mutarda 1 sp. intro to Cuba, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, N+C Chile, and Argentina; Neuontobotrys 14 spp. SAM-endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, and NW+S Argentina; Noccaea 1-2 spp. native to NW+S Argentina and C+S Chile; Parodiodoxa monospecific narrow endemic genus of NW Argentina; Petroravenia monospecific narrow endemic of NW Argentina; Polypsecadium 15 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and S Brazil; Raphanus 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, El Salvador, the Antilles, the Bahamas, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and C, S, SE Brazil; Rapistrum 1 sp. intro to Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay, S+SE Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay; Romanschulzia 4 spp. native to Guatemala (1 endemic), Costa Rica (1 endemic), and Panama; Sarcodraba 1 sp. S SAM endemic genus of NW Argentina, other 3 spp. in Patagonia; Sibara 6 spp. S SAM endemic in Argentina (2) and N+C Chile (4); Sinapis 2 spp. intro to El Salvador, Antilles, Colombia, Guyana, C, S, SE Brazil, Paraguay, NE+S Argentina; Sisymbrium 5 spp. inc. 1 native to Peru and 4 spp. intro to Haiti, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, S+SE Brazil; Thlaspi 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Bolivia, SE Brazil, NE Argentina; Weberbauera 22 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and NW and S Argentina; Zuloagocardamum monospecific narrow endemic genus of NW Argentina.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Camelinodae Supertribe in the Neotropics
Arabidopsis 1 sp. intro to Uruguay and C Chile; Armoracia 1 sp. intro to Jamaica; Barbarea 1 sp. intro to Haiti, Dominican Republic, and C Chile; Camelina 2 spp. intro to N Argentina, C Chile, Uruguay, and S Brazil; Capsella 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Antilles, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and S+SE Brazil; Cardamine 14 spp. native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and S+SE Brazil, and 3 spp. intro to Cuba, Jamaica, the Leeward and Windward Islands, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, and C+NE Brazil; Descurainia 5 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay; Erysimum 2 spp. inc. 1 sp. native to Guatemala and Costa Rica, 1 sp. intro to Ecuador and Argentina; Exhalimolobos 6 spp. native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Uruguay; Hornungia 1 sp. intro to Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina; Lepidium 30 spp., including 29 native to CAM, the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina (1 endemic to N Argentina), Paraguay, Uruguay, and E Brazil and 1 sp. intro to C Brazil, Suriname, and French Guiana; Mancoa 4 spp. Americas endemic genus native to Peru, Bolivia, C Chile, and N Argentina; Nasturtium 2 spp., inc. 1 native to Guatemala and 1 intro to El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, S Brazil, Chile; Neslia 1 sp. intro to NE Argentina, Cuba; Pennellia 6 spp. Americas endemic genus native to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Bolivia, C Chile, and Argentina; Physaria 1 sp. native to Bolivia, Argentina, and Uruguay; Rorippa 15 spp. inc. 12 native and 3 intro to CAM (exc. Belize), the Antilles, and SAM exc. N Chile, French Guiana, and C+NE Brazil; Tropidocarpum 1 sp. mostly NAM endemic genus disjunct endemic to C Chile.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Heliophilodae Supertribe in the Neotropics
Aimara monospecific endemic of N Chile; Alshehbazia 3 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, N+S Chile, and NW+S Argentina; Aschersoniodoxa 3 spp. a SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Atacama monospecific narrow endemic genus of N Chile; Brayopsis 3 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Coincya 1 sp. intro to Colombia; Cremolobus 5 spp. Andes endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Dactylocardamum monospecific narrow endemic genus of Peru; Eudema 10 spp. narrow W SAM endemic genus of Ecuador and Peru; Gongylis monospecific narrow endemic genus of Peru; Iberis 2 spp. intro to Haiti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Argentina; Lobularia 1 sp. intro Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Argentina, Chile, Uruguay; Mathewsia 7 spp. narrow W SAM endemic genus of Peru, N+C Chile; Menonvillea 21 spp. narrow endemic genus of Chile and NW(+S) Argentina; Schizopetalon 11 spp. W SAM endemic genus of N+C Chile, NW Argentina.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Hesperodae Supertribe in the Neotropics
Chorispora 1 sp. intro NW+S Argentina; Matthiola 2 spp. introduced to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, Juan Fernandez Is., and S Argentina; Strigosella 1 sp. intro Argentina.
Patagonia Brassicaceae Genera
Aethionemoideae Subfamily in Patagonia
Aethionema 1 sp. intro to S Argentina.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Arabodae Supertribe in Patagonia
Alyssum 1 sp. intro throughout Patagonia; Arabis 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Draba 4 spp. native throughout the region; Tomostima 1 sp. native to Patagonia.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Brassicodae Supertribe in Patagonia
Alliaria 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Brassica 1-2 spp. intro to all of Patagonia inc. Falkland Is.; Chilocardamum 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of S Argentina; Cochlearia 1 sp. intro to S Argentina and Falkland Is.; Diplotaxis 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Eruca 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Hirschfeldia monospecific intro to C Chile and S Argentina; Hollermayera monospecific endemic genus of C+S Chile; Mostacillastrum ~12 spp. native to S Argentina; Mutarda 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Neuontobotrys 1-2 spp. SAM endemic genus native to C Chile and S Argentina; Noccaea 1 sp. native to the region; Phlebolobium monospecific narrow endemic of the Falkland Islands; Polypsecadium 1 sp. SAM endemic genus native to Patagonia; Raphanus 1 sp. intro to Patagonia; Rapistrum 1 sp. intro to Patagonia; Sarcodraba 3 spp. S SAM endemic genus endemic to Patagonia, other species are in NW Argentina; Sibara 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Sinapis 2 spp. intro to S Argentina; Sisymbrium 1 sp. intro to Patagonia and the Falkland Islands; Thlaspi 1 sp. introduced to S Chile, S Argentina, and the South Georgia Is.; Weberbauera 2 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Patagonia.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Camelinodae Supertribe in Patagonia
Arabidopsis 1 sp. intro throughout Patagonia; Barbarea 1 sp. intro throughout the Patagonia region; Camelina 1 sp. intro in S Argentina; Capsella 1 sp. intro to all of Patagonia, inc. Falkland Is.; Cardamine ~17 spp. cosmopolitan genus native all throughout Patagonia, including the Falkland Islands, and introduced to South Georgia Island, including several endemic to the region; Delpinophytum monospecific endemic genus of S Argentina; Descurainia 1-2 spp. native to the region; Erysimum 1 sp. intro S Argentina, Falkland Is.; Exhalimolobos 1-2 spp. native to S Argentina; Hornungia 1 sp. intro Patagonia; Lepidium ~10 spp. native throughout Patagonia and the Falkland Is., inc. several endemics; Malcolmia 1 sp. intro S Argentina; Nasturtium 1 sp. intro to the Patagonia region; Neslia 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Pennellia 2 spp. native to C Chile, C+S Argentina; Physaria 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Rorippa 2 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to Patagonia; Trichotolinum monospecific endemic genus of S Argentina.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Heliophilodae Supertribe in Patagonia
Alshehbazia 1 sp. SAM endemic genus native to S Chile and S Argentina; Iberis 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Lobularia 1 sp. intro to C+S Chile; Lunaria 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Menonvillea 4 spp. SAM endemic genus native to the region, inc. 3 endemics; Onuris 5 spp. Patagonian endemic genus in C+S Chile, and S Argentina; Teesdalia 1 sp. intro S Chile; Xerodraba 5 spp. endemic genus of Patagonia.
Brassicoideae Subfamily: Hesperodae Supertribe in Patagonia
Chorispora 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Dichasianthus 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Hesperis 1 sp. intro to the region, inc. the Falkland Is.; Matthiola 1 sp. intro to S Argentina; Strigosella 1 sp. intro to S Argentina.
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA 1993+. Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
German DA, Hendriks KP, Koch MA, Lens F, Lysak MA, Bailey CD, Mummenhoff K, Al-Shehbaz IA. An updated classification of the Brassicaceae (Cruciferae). PhytoKeys. 2023 Mar 6;220:127-144. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.220.97724. PMID: 37251613; PMCID: PMC10209616. **This is the latest data on the correct deliniation of the supertribal classification of the Brassicaceae.
iNaturalist.org 2020+. https://www.inaturalist.org/. Accessed 2020-current. If you like plants or nature in general, please join the iNaturalist community and start sharing your observations with others. The data we track is invaluable for scientists like me wanting to track population changes over time.
Koch MA, Kiefer M, German DA, Al-Shehbaz IA, Franzke A, Mummenhoff K, Schmickl R. 2012. BrassiBase: Tools and biological resources to study characters and traits in the Brassicaceae – version 1.1 TAXON 61(5): 1001-1009. brassibase.cos.uni-heidelberg.de. This is considered THE authoritative source on the Brassicaceae.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. 2009+. Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO 2019+. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed 2020-current.
USDA, NRCS. 2020+. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
21 Jul, 2026
7 Jul, 2026
How to Identify the Menyanthaceae or Bogbean Family
Menyanthes trifoliata of the Bogbean or Menyanthaceae family of aquatic plants. Page Last Updated September 8, 2026
Introduction to the Menyanthaceae Family
Welcome to the Menyanthaceae, probably my favorite aquatic plant family. I say “probably” because my son says all plants are my favorite! The Menyanthaceae is a small but globally important family that plays a crucial role in wetland ecosystem structure and function all across the globe.
As a child growing up in the mountains of coastal British Columbia, Canada, I first encountered this family. I would see bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) growing in the shallow mountain lakes, covered with damselflies and dragonflies, with tiny little fish and frogs swimming beneath them. Even then I recognized it as its own little ecosystem. I also loved deer cabbage (Nephrophyllidium crista-galli) immediately when I discovered it as a teen—I thought its shiny green kidney-shaped leaves with crenate (rounded-toothed) edges were so beautiful, and I did not even get a chance to see its gorgeous frilly white flowers until several years later!
Join me as we explore this globally critical but too often over-looked plant family.
Beginner’s Guide to the Bogbean (Menyanthaceae) Family
If you’re new to plant morphology, this easy guide is a perfect beginner’s description for learning to identify the Menyanthaceae family, with no need to know any scientific jargon. This is great news for newcomers to plant morphology because there are a LOT of different words used, sometimes even different words used to describe the same feature! So here at least, we’ll keep it simple.
Below this section is additional information on uses and wildlife values. Then we have morphology photos to help you identify the features of the Menyanthaceae family, followed by pictures of individual species of the Menyanthaceae family that I have found so far in North America.
For researchers or those wanting to learn a more in-depth version, refer to the Scientific Botanical Descriptionbelow the images for highly detailed scientific descriptions and genus-level distribution data throughout the Americas, from Arctic Canada to the tip of South America.
Leaves and Stemsof the Bogbean Family
The Menyanthaceae are all strictly aquatic or wetland perennial herbs that are rooted and use rhizomes or stolons to remain alive through droughts and winter. They have simple to compound leaves with 3 leaflets (trifoliate). Leaves are arranged alternately on the stem, although some have basal aggregations of leaves and some aquatic forms have floating leaves.
Flowersof the Bogbean Family
The Menyanthaceae mostly have bisexual flowers that contain both male (stamens) and female (ovary, style, and stigma) parts on the same flower, although some Nymphoides have separate male and female flowers on separate plants (dioecious). Flowers are small to medium in size with 5 petals that are fused into a tube on the bottom with 5 lobes that are usually fringed or crested and often have a bearded inner surface. They also have five sepals, which are typically free or just barely fused at the base.
Reproductive Featuresof the Bogbean Family
The Menyanthaceae always have 5 fertile stamens that alternate with the corolla lobes. The ovary has 2 chambers that are fused and it is attached above the point of petal attachment (superior) or may be partially inferior. There is a short style divided into 2 stigma lobes.
Fruitsof the Bogbean Family
Fruits of the Menyanthaceae are always dry capsules that split apart at maturity, but occasionally the fruit is thickened and almost succulent-like, so it is sometimes described as a berry even though it is not.
Morphology of Menyanthaceae in North America
Some Species of Menyanthaceae Found in North America
Menyanthes trifoliata—Bogbean
Menyanthes trifoliata is a widespread member of the Menyanthaceae family. It is a rhizomatous emergent aquatic (it grows in standing water from rhizomes), often found in shallow ponds and lakes, peat bogs, and fens, often forming floating mats that create habitats for countless other plants, invertebrates, and amphibians. The leaves are compound and divided into three leaflets (trifoliate) and produce white flowers with a deeply 5-lobed corolla with inner petals that are very frilly. The species is native across the temperate and subarctic Northern Hemisphere. In the Americas, it is widespread in Canada, Alaska, and the northern USA. I found this patch in the shallow edge waters of Carlson Lake on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada.
Nephrophyllidium crista-galli—Deer Cabbage
Nephrophyllidium crista-galli, or deer cabbage, is another Menyanthaceae member found in wet, mountainous areas like wet meadows, bogs, and subalpine and alpine seeps. It has a much narrower native range, found only in the North Pacific rim from Alaska south through British Columbia, Canada, to Oregon, USA, and also in Japan. It has simple kidney-shaped (reniform) leaves that are thick and glossy and have distinctive round teeth (crenate or scalloped) on their margins, growing from long petioles. Flowers are white or cream with the characteristic fringe of the family but with a prominent fleshy ridge running along the center of each petal lobe.
Uses of the Menyanthaceae Family
Menyanthaceae species are of economic importance as ornamental water garden plants, with Nymphoides being most commonly traded and Liparophyllum and Ornduffia also grown on a smaller scale in Australia for wetland restoration. I always encourage planting native aquatic species to prevent the naturalization and invasiveness of non-native water plants in North America and globally.
On the ethnobotanical side, Menyanthes trifoliata has a long history of use in Europe, Asia, and North American traditional medicines. It has been used as a bitter tonic to stimulate appetite and bile and treat scurvy, rheumatism, and fevers. Modern research (Kowalczyk et al. 2019) shows it does have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Menyanthaceae
Here is where the Menyantheaceae has the biggest impact globally since they play vital roles in the structure and function of freshwater wetland ecosystems all across the globe. They add crucial habitat structure and diversity in wetlands, allowing biodiversity to flourish, and they help filter suspended solids in the water.
For instance, Menyanthes and Nymphoides have extensive creeping underwater rhizomes and stolons that stabilize soft sediments, while the dense mats of Menyanthes trifoliata often form the structural foundation of floating sphagnum mats, which create habitat for other plants, invertebrates, and more. Floating-leaved species like Nymphoides also create important cover and habitat in shallow waters for small fish, frogs, salamanders, and more, protecting them from avian predators.
Then, the fringed, showy, nectar-rich, textured flowers of Menyanthes and Nymphoides are crucial nectar sources for specialized and generalist native bees, hoverflies, and butterflies.
Taxonomy of the Menyanthaceae Family
The Manyanthaceae currently has 58 accepted species in 6 genera. It is part of the Asterales order of the core dicots. While they are further divided into 2 tribes, here we will treat them at the family level because there are so few genera.
The Menyanthaceae is not often mistaken for other families except the Gentianaceae. It was even formerly placed in the Gentianales order under the widely used Cronquist system because it shared morphological traits with the Gentianaceae, including fused corollas, parietal placentation (a unilocular ovary), and the presence of bitter iridoids. It has even been treated as a subfamily within the Gentianaceae in older floras. However, DNA evidence showed that it was much closer related to the Asteraceae and Campanulaceae families instead.
The two can be differentiated by the opposite leaves of the Gentiancaeae and the strictly aquatic habitat and alternate leaves of the Menyanthaceae. The Gentianaceae also have smooth inner petals, while the Menyanthaceae petals are distinctly fuzzy or fringed. Chemically, the iridoids of Menyanthaceae differ chemically from those of Gentianaceae.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Menyanthaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Menyanthaceae
The Menyanthaceae family consists of aquatic or wetland rhizomatous or stoloniferous perennial herbs that are typically not succulent, have alternate leaves, and often exhibit a basal aggregation of leaves, except for aquatics with floating leaves. Leaves are arranged alternately in a spiral pattern and have petioles with sheathing or ± winged margins, but no stipules are present. Plants are rooted, typically hydrophytes, but some members can survive in the muck without true standing water.
Leaves are simple to trifoliate leaves that are sometimes peltate and typically have broad leaf bases. When simple, the lamina is pinnately or palmately veined and cross-venulate. Leaves have hydathodes to secrete excess water, and anomocytic stomata are usually present on both surfaces, except for the floating leaves of Nymphoides, where they are confined to the adaxial surface.
Flowers of the Menyanthaceae
The Menyanthaceae plants are hermaphrodites with bisexual flowers whose pollination is entomophilous, except for a few species of Nymphoides, which are dioecious. Dimorphic heterostyly occurs in all genera except Liparophyllum.
Inflorescences are variable. They can be scapiflorous or not, and they can be solitary or aggregated in fascicles, many-flowered cymes, panicles, racemes, or involucrate heads, with or without involucral bracts.
Flowers are small to medium, actinomorphic, usually 5-merous, and tetracyclic. A free hypanthium is absent, and an intrastaminal hypogynous disk is present. The perianth has a distinct calyx and corolla with 10 parts in 2 isomerous whorls.
The calyx has 5 parts in 1 whorl, which are fused at the base or nearly free.
The corolla has 5 parts in 1 whorl, fused into a tube at the base with 5 lobes, and it may be appendiculate with interstaminal scales or not. The corolla is connate with a floral tube, valvate or induplicate valvate, and actinomorphic. Petals are often fringed or crested and typically have conspicuously fimbriate-bearded adaxial surfaces that help distinguish the family from the Gentianaceae.
Androecium of the Menyanthaceae
The Menyanthaceae androecium consists of 5 members, although it is occasionally interpreted as having 10 members if the scales that sometimes alternate with the stamens are interpreted as staminodes rather than as the more common interpretation of being outgrowths of the corolla. Androecial members are free of one another and adnate at the base, midway, or in the throat of the corolla tube.
The androecium has five stamens that are exclusively fertile, isomerous with the perianth, and oppositisepalous with filaments alternating with the corolla lobes. Anthers are sagittate, versatile, dehiscing via longitudinal slits, introrse, and tetrasporangiate.
Gynoecium of the Menyanthaceae
The gynoecium is 2-carpelled, the pistil is 1-celled, and the ovary is 1-locular. The gynoecium is syncarpous and superior or partly inferior. There is 1 style that is terminal and shortly bifid, with 2 stigmas that are wet type and papillate. Placentation is parietal (two placentas), usually with 10-50 ovules per cavity that are horizontal, anatropous, unitegmic, and tenuinucellate.
Fruits of the Menyanthaceae
Fruits in the Menyanthaceae family are non-fleshy, dehiscent loculicidal capsules, but they may be septicidal or valvular capsules. Although occasionally the pericarp is thickened and was occasionally described as berries in older flora, they do not produce berries. Fruits contain 4–100 seeds that are endospermic and oily and may be winged or wingless.
Global Distribution of the Menyanthaceae Family
The Menyanthaceae family is mostly a temperate family, though it is cosmopolitan. In the Americas, it is found from northern Canada south into Central and South America, but it does not reach the Southern Cone.
There is also an interesting distribution with the genera themselves, with Menyanthes and Nephrophyllidium growing only in the Northern Hemisphere, while Liparophyllum, Ornduffia, and Villarsia occur only in the Southern Hemisphere. Nymphoides, on the other hand, has a cosmopolitan distribution.
Distribution of the Menyanthaceae in the Americas
Canadian MenyanthaceaeGenera
Menyanthes monospecific circumboreal genus native to all of Canada, inc. the Arctic (and Greenland); Nephrophyllidium monospecific genus native to BC, also AK, Japan; Nymphoides 2 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to ON, QC, NB, NS, and NL (exc. Labrador) and introduced to BC.
USA MenyanthaceaeGenera
Menyanthes monospecific circumboreal genus native to much of the USA, including AK, but excluding TX, OK, KS, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL, TN, and KY, and extirpated in DE; Nephrophyllidium monospecific native to WA, OR, and AK, also in BC, Canada and Japan; Nymphoides 6 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to WA, CA, AZ, TX, OK, MO, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, TN, IN, OH, PA, MD, DE, NY, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH, and ME and intro to KY and IL.
Mexico MenyanthaceaeGenera
Nymphoides 2 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to much of Mexico, exc. NW Mexico.
Neotropical MenyanthaceaeGenera
Nymphoides 4 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to CAM, the Greater Antilles, Leeward Is., Trinidad-Tobago, and tropical SAM S to N Argentina (exc. N Chile), and it has been introduced in the Venezuelan Antilles.
Patagonia MenyanthaceaeGenera
Absent
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA 1993+. Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
Kowalczyk T, et. al. An Evaluation of the DNA-Protective Effects of Extracts from Menyanthes trifoliata L. Plants Derived from In Vitro Culture Associated with Redox Balance and Other Biological Activities. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2019 Oct 16;2019:9165784. doi: 10.1155/2019/9165784. PMID: 31737178; PMCID: PMC6816005.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. 2009+. Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO 2019+. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed 2020-current.
USDA, NRCS. 2020+. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
7 Jul, 2026
5 Jul, 2026
How to Identify the Asteraceae or Sunflower Family
Arnica cordifolia is part of the Madieae tribe of the Asteroideae subfamily, here showing a radiate head made with bright yellow ray florets and golden disc florets. Page Last Updated September 8, 2026.
Introduction to the Asteraceae Family
Welcome to the Asteraceae, or sunflower family, currently the largest plant family in the world! The Asteraceae, formerly known as the Compositae family, are named after their unique composite flowers that normally look like a single flower when, in fact, they may contain hundreds of disc and ray florets in a single “flower.”
I have always found the Asteraceae to be a fascinating family, super easy to identify at the family level with those composite heads, but they can be more challenging in the field, so much so that we may use phrases like “JAFYA” (just another freaking yellow aster) to describe unknowns we see at a glance before we have a chance to dig deeper, like those “LBMs” (little brown mushrooms) we see among mushroom circles. Now, don’t let that scare you; the Asteraceae are a fascinating family, especially on the American continent, where entire tribes, larger than many plant families, are either endemic or strongly concentrated. We have almost all the most basal Asteraceae lineages, primarily in South America, but also one in North America (the Hecastocleidoideae), which has unique ancestral characters not found in most Asteraceae.
Beginner’s Guide to the Sunflower (Asteraceae) Family
If you’re new to plant morphology, this easy guide is a perfect beginner’s description for learning to identify the Asteraceae family, with no need to know any scientific jargon. Below this section is additional information on the uses and wildlife values of the Asteraceae, as well as morphology photos to help you identify the family. This section is followed by select pictures of individual species of the Asteraceae family, organized by subfamilies and tribes, that I have found in North America, to show you representatives of what the Asteraceae look like, at least in North America, where I have explored them.
For researchers or those wanting to learn a more in-depth version, refer to the Scientific Botanical Descriptionbelow the images for highly detailed scientific descriptions of the Asteraceae and genus-level distribution data on the Asteraceae family throughout the Americas, from Arctic Canada to the tip of South America.
Leaves and Stemsof the Sunflower Family
The Asteraceae are mostly perennial and annual herbs, sometimes biennial, but they also include fairly common shrubs and subshrubs and, less often, trees and vines. They often have leaves that are alternately arranged, but some are in opposite pairs, and whorled arrangements are rare. Leaves are often well developed and may be entire or variously divided, with entire or variously toothed margins. Plants usually possess hairs, which come in a wide variety of forms. The leaves may show resin dots.
Flowersof the Sunflower Family
All Asteraceae have unique compound flower heads that appear to be a single flower but, upon closer inspection, are made of several to hundreds of small ray florets that look like petals and small tubular disc florets that are often tightly packed in the center, which are known as radiate heads. However, some flowers are made only of ray florets (ligulate), while others are made only of disc florets (discoid). Flowers are usually made of 5 parts and contain both male parts (stamens) and female parts (ovary, stigma, and style) in the same flower, except sometimes in the ray florets, which may be unisexual or sterile. However, in most cases, their parts are fused and often very small, and it’s enough to recognize the composite head to recognize the family
Instead of a normal calyx of sepals, Asteraceae possess bracts on their floral receptacle, which sometimes look very sepal-like but other times appear as overlapping layers (series) of small bracts that are often pressed tightly against the receptacle. These are mostly unique to sunflowers and provide another useful way to identify them.
Reproductive Featuresof the Sunflower Family
All members have 3-5 stamens that are often quite short, with the anthers appearing fused, almost always forming a tube around the style, and usually bearing modified features (appendages).
The ovary is always inferior, attached below the point where the petals attach, and there are almost always 2 fused chambers (carpels) in the ovary, with typically 2 styles that are partially joined and arise from the top of the ovary.
Fruitsof the Sunflower Family
Asteraceae fruits are easy to identify since they are almost always unique dry fruits called cypselae, which are small, hard fruits with one seed. That seed usually, but not always, has a cluster of hairy bristles (pappus) attached to one end for wind dispersal, but some may have no pappus (like sunflower seeds).
General Morphology of Asteraceae in North America
Composite Flower Head Morphology of Asteraceae in North America
First, here is some general composite flower morphology, and I have a dissection photo for you below.
Next, here is a photo of a cross section of the composite head so you can see what it looks like. This is a photo I took of Silphium laciniatum in Kansas, and AI was used to add the labels—so much faster than doing it myself!
Some Species of Asteraceae: Asteroideae Subfamily Found in North America
Because the Asteraceae family is such a large family with so much variety, I am breaking my representative species out into tribes so we can show some from each tribe I have photographed so far. With some of the larger tribes like Astereae and Heliantheae, I further broke it into subtribes for the same reason.
The oxeye daisy is a good representation of the Anthemideae, or the chamomile tribe. It’s a perennial herb that grows to 1 m tall from creeping rhizomes and has variable leaves that become smaller, less lobed, but more coarsely toothed up the stem. Flowers are radiate heads on a solitary stem, about 3-6 cm across, with white ray florets and yellow disc florets. This is a Eurasian native that is an introduced and fairly aggressive invader in North America, though it prefers disturbed habitats. This one was in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Artemisia campestris—Field Wormwood
Artemisia campestris is less representative of this tribe as a whole, but it is common in the Artemisiinae subtribe, with hundreds of Artemisa species along. If you look close at its atypical Asteraceae flowers, you can see the involucral bracts. This species has a circumboreal distribution and is native across the USA and Canada. It is a perennial or biennial herb or subshrub with a thickened woody stem base, alternate leaves that are deeply 2-3 times pinnately divided, and flowers in a large panicle-like cluster of bell-shaped heads.
And, since the Asteraeae tribe is so massive, here I have further broken it down to give one representative member from each subtribe that I have photographed to give you a broad overview of the tribe as a whole.
Chaetopappa ericoides—Rose Heath
Chaetopappa ericoides is part of the Chaetopappinae subtribe of the Astereae tribe. This western North American native is a low-growing, mat-forming perennial herb or subshrub, typically only growing to 15 cm tall. Leaves are small, crowded, alternately arranged, and typically have spine-like tips and rough hairs. Flowers are radiate heads in solitary terminal stalks with 8-12 ray florets that open white or pinkish and fade to rose-purple and surround 8-25 bisexual yellow disc florets.
This North American native, the Hoary False Goldenaster (part of the Chrysopsidinae subtribe of the Astereae), gets its name from the dense covering of white hairs (hoary). It’s a compact, busy perennial that grows up to 40 cm tall from a deep taproot, with simple, linear to lance-shaped, alternately arranged leaves. Radiate heads are about 1.5 cm across and clustered at branch tips, as shown here. Each head has 10-22 bright yellow female ray florets and 14-40 yellow bisexual disc florets.
Erigeron subtrinervis is part of the Conyzinae subtribe of the Astereae tribe, and it’s native to western North America; this one here was from Lavington, BC, Canada. They are erect perennials up to 90 cm tall with clustered stems typically densely covered in coarse hairs (hirsute). Its Latin name, subtrinervis, refers to the 3 prominent parallel veins on its alternately arranged leaves. Flower heads are arranged in corymb-like clusters of up to ~20 heads. Ray florets are numerous and very thin, often in lavender, blue, or purple, but rarely white like many others of its genus.
This unassuming plant is part of the Gutierreziinae subtribe that happily makes its home in the Great Plains and deserts of North and Central America and warrants a closer look. It is a small, densely branched, dome-shaped perennial subshrub with alternately arranged, thread-like leaves that are often dotted with tiny translucent resin glands. While individually the flowers are small, it blooms profusely with thousands of pretty, tiny, bright yellow heads in dense, flat-topped, corymbose clusters at the branch tips.
Machaeranthera tanacetifolia, part of the Machaerantherinae subtribe of the Asterea, is one of my favorite desert wildflowers because it will bloom from spring through fall, even in the heat of summer. In fact, it provides the perfect nectar to countless native bees and acts as a food source for several native butterflies and moths. It’s a compact, taprooted annual or perennial herb with 1 to several branching, spreading stems with sticky glandular hairs. Leaves are deeply divided, resembling tansy leaves, and giving it its name, tanacetifolia. Flower heads are radiate with 12-30 showy lavender-to-purple ray flowers and a flat central disk of yellow tubular disc florets.
Ericameria nauseosa is part of the Pentachaetinae subtribe of the Astereae, distinguished by being a shrub up to 2 m tall from a woody root crown and exceptionally deep taproot, allowing it to thrive in arid environments where it can be a dominant species of native shrub in western North America from Canada to central Mexico. Leaves are threadlike and covered with a distinct short layer of tomentose grayish-white hairs, giving the plant a chalky appearance. They also emit a foul odor when crushed, which is where the species name nauseosa comes from. Flowers are in radiate heads made only of yellow tubular disc flowers. The common name “rubber” comes from the fact that it produces a high-quality, hypoallergenic natural rubber concentrated in its woody roots.
Solidago lepida—Western Canada Goldenrod or Elegant Goldenrod
The goldenrods of the Solidago genus all belong to the subtribe Solidagininae. This one is native across western North America but all across Canada, from the Yukon and British Columbia east to Newfoundland. It’s an erect perennial up to 1.5 m tall, forming spreading colonies via rhizomes and producing single or clustered stems that become hairy in the upper half. Basal leaves are absent by maturity, but it has numerous crowded, more-or-less lance-shaped leaves that don’t reduce in size much up the stem. Flowers are in dense terminal clusters of up to 800 small bright yellow heads. While at first glance you might guess they are discoid, look closely—they have short, thin yellow ray and yellow disc florets, both. This one was in Pender Harbour, British Columbia.
Symphyotrichum laeve is part of the Symphyotrichinae subtribe of Astereae, found all across North America, from southern Canada throughout most of the USA. It’s a clump-forming perennial 30-120 cm tall from short, thick, woody rhizomes. It’s called “smooth” because of its lack of hairs, though it may have a waxy bloom (glaucous) that makes its leaves and stems appear blue-green. Leaves are simple and alternate but variable; the mid- and upper-stem leaves are clasping around the stems. It produces panicles of radiate heads with 15-30 deep violet to pale blue ray florets and yellow disc florets that turn reddish-purple with age.
Asteraceae: Asteroideae Subfamily: Bahieae Tribe
Hymenopappus filifolius—Fineleaf Hymenopappus
Hymenopappus filifolius is part of the Bahieae tribe found in southwestern North America from Canada south to northern Mexico. It’s a taprooted perennial herb growing in clumps or spreading, 10-100 cm tall with stems that are distinctively covered in short wooly hairs (tomentose). Leaves are alternate but mostly concentrated in a dense, woolly, gray-green basal rosette with leaves dissected into thread-like segments. Discoid heads are somewhat unique in having such a knobby appearance of the involucral bracts and the prominent glandular tubular disc florets with a prominent style visible protruding from their central staminal column, a characteristic feature of all Asteraceae, though they are usually hidden within the tube more in other species.
Palafoxia sphacelata—Sand Palafoxia
Sand palafoxia is a beautiful annual native of the Bahieae tribe found in central and southwestern North America, often growing in sand. It is a slender annual up to 90 cm tall from a taproot with simple lance-shaped leaves and lower stems with stiff (hispid) hairs while upper branches have sticky glandular hairs. Showy radiate heads are up to 4 cm wide with 3-5 bright pink ray florets that are each deeply divided into three elongated lobes. The disc florets show off dark protruding stamens. This one was in the Chihuahuan Desert of southwestern New Mexico.
Coreopsis lanceolata is another North American native, but it’s also a popular ornamental and has been introduced around the world. It’s a clump-forming perennial up to 60 cm tall from a short, branched woody caudex with slender stems and opposite lance-shaped leaves (hence its common and Latin names). Flowers are in solitary, striking radiate heads 3-7 cm across on long naked stalks (peduncles), with 8 bright yellow ray florets each deeply 3-4-toothed, surrounding numerous small yellow disc florets.
Thelesperma filifolium—Stiff Greenhead
Thelesperma filifolium is also part of the Coreopsideae tribe, but I wanted to include it to show how members of this tribe have distinct involucral bracts in separate layers that are often fused amongst each other but also don’t look alike, this one more so than others. This plant is a winter annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial with thread-like oppositely arranged leaves and 4-5 cm wide radiate heads on long slender leafless stalks. It has 8 golden-yellow ray florets and dozens of reddish-brown to purple disc florets. It’s native to central and southwestern North America.
Ageratina altissima—White Snakeroot or Tall Boneset
Ageratina altissima is an Asteraceae of the Eupatorieae tribe of the Asteroideae subfamily. It is a perennial herb 40-150 cm tall with large, opposite leaves that are noticeably thin and wrinkled (rugose) with three prominent parallel veins. It produces flat-topped inflorescences of white discoid flower heads with protruding style branches to give it a soft, fuzzy appearance. It is native to eastern and central North America; this one was in the Tallgrass Prairie Reserve in eastern Kansas.
Pearly Everlasting is a member of the Gnaphilieae tribe found across North America and Asia; this one was in Squamish, BC, Canada. It’s a clump-forming annual 30-90 cm tall with slender, unbranched stems covered with a felty or woolly coat of hairs. Leaves are alternate, linear to lance-shaped, and dull gray-green with sparse woolly hairs on top and a dense felt of hairs below. Flowers are in dense terminal flat-topped clusters, each head wrapped in overlapping pearly white involucral bracts that surround tiny bright yellow tubular disc florets that are predominantly male or female (not bisexual). The persistent involucre bracts are what gives the plant its common name, Pearly Everlasting.
Gaillardia pulchella is an Asteraceae of the Helenieae tribe and Gaillardiinae subtribe that is native to the south-central USA but was introduced across the eastern states in the 1800s. This hardy multi-branched annual or short-lived perennial has grooved (striate) stems with rough (hirsute) hairs. It has simple grayish-green and densely hairy leaves that become smaller and less lobed or toothed further up the stem. Flowers are showy, pinwheel-like radiate heads 3-5 cm across on long, naked stalks with 10-20 brightly bi-colored red and yellow sterile ray florets and a dense dome of reddish-purple to dark brown disc florets. And because the blooms are long-lasting even in the summer heat, they are popular with native and domestic pollinators.
Hymenoxys richardsonii is part of the Helenieae tribe and the Tetraneurinae subtribe, and it’s native to western North America. This low-growing, tufted perennial herb or subshrub has dense, woolly white to rusty hairs at the base where the thick leaves are concentrated. Leaves are deeply divided into thread-like segments and have translucent resin glads that are very bitter when bruised. Flowers are golden yellow radiate heads with 7-14 ray florets, each with three deep teeth on their tips, and tubular yellow bisexual disc florets. It is managed in rangelands due to the toxic compounds it contains.
Parthenium incanum—New Mexico Rubber Plant or Mariola
Parthenium incanum may not look like it, but it is part of the Heliantheae, or sunflower tribe, but in this case, the Ambrosiinae subtribe, which doesn’t have the showy flower heads of its close relatives. This Southwestern USA and Mexican native is a heavily branched, rounded perennial desert shrub that grows up to 1 m tall and wide, with young stems coated with matted, cottony, or mealy hairs. Its small leaves are deeply divided into 2-3 pairs of rounded lobes, are alternately arranged, and are aromatic, smelling of turpentine or wormwood. Flowers are small creamy-white heads in flat-topped clusters that look like little cauliflowers. The composite heads are unique, having ~5 broad scoop-shaped female ray florets with tubular disc florets that contain a sterile ovary, making them functionally male.
Rudbeckia hirta is a familiar member of the sunflower, or Heliantheae, tribe and the Rudbeckiinae subtribe. Originally native to the plains and central USA, it has spread from Canada to Mexico, coast to coast. It is a robust annual or short-lived perennial 30-100 cm tall from fibrous roots with alternate, simple, variable, entire, or shallowly toothed leaves; leaves and stems are covered in stiff, bristly hairs (hispid). Flower heads are showy and radiate 5-10 cm across with ~8-20 bright yellow to golden ray florets that are completely sterile and hundreds of tiny fertile disc florets that are dark brown to deep purple, forming a raised cone in the center.
Asteraceae: Asteroideae Subfamily: Madieae Tribe
Arnica cordifolia—Heartleaf Arnica
Arnica cordifolia is part of the Madieae tribe of the Asteroideae subfamily native to western North America in montane and subalpine zones from Alaska and the Yukon south to New Mexico and California; this one was in the mountains of British Columbia. The opposite, heart-shaped leaves of this 15-50 cm tall perennial herb make it easy to identify, though they lose their heart shape and long stems as they go further up the stem. Flower heads are radiate, born on solitary stems or clusters of 2-3; they are 4-8 cm across with 9-16 bright yellow fertile ray florets with 2-3 teeth at their tips around a central disc of yellow tubular florets. Like other arnica species, it possesses anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, making it great field medicine when bruised and applied to sore muscles, bruises, and sprains.
Melampodium leucanthum is part of the Millerieae tribe and the Melampodiinae subtribe, native to southwestern and central North America from the central USA south into northern Mexico. This low-growing perennial herb or subshrub grows 15-30 cm tall from a thick woody caudex and a deep taproot. It produces numerous brittle branches with fine gray appressed hairs (strigose). Leaves are simple, linear, and oppositely arranged with entire margins or shallow wavy teeth, with short rough hairs. Small white radiate heads 2-2.5 cm wide appear singly at stem tips with 8-13 prominent pearly white ray florets with notches or teeth at their tips surrounding a flat central disc of bright yellow disc florets. The name “Blackfoot” refers to the developing seeds sitting at the base of the ray florets like feet that are wrapped in scales that turn black as they ripen.
Packera glabella is a good example of the Senecioneae tribe and Senecioninae subtribe, with its small yellow radiate heads with a single uniform row of equal-length green bracts in the involucre that looks like a little green cup (overlapping bracts are more common). They also have the abundant silky pappus that gives spent heads a white-haired, fluffy look. This opportunistic species is native to the central and eastern United States; this one was in Tennessee.
Asteraceae: Asteroideae Subfamily: Tageteae Tribe
Thymophylla acerosa—Prickly Leaf Dogweed
Thymophylla acerosa is a good representative of the Tageteae tribe of Asteraceae with its prominent translucent oil glands embedded in the leaves and its fused involucral bracts that form a solid tube or cup. It smells strongly of bright citrus and turpentine when bruised. It is a perennial cushion-forming subshrub, usually taller than wide, with stiff woody stems and opposite to alternate leaves that are thread-like and arranged in dense clusters like pine or rosemary. Flowers are ~1 cm across with 7-8 fertile oval yellow ray florets and 15-25 bisexual disc florets. The involucre is fused in a cup and dotted with conspicuous orange or yellow glands.
Some Species of the Carduoideae Subfamily in North America
Cirsium horridulum—Yellow Thistle or Bristly Thistle
Cirsium horridulum is a classic thistle of the Carduoideae subfamily in the Cardueae tribe and Carduinae subtribe that is native to eastern and southern North America; this one was on a roadside in Mississippi. They are large, heavily armed biennials or short-lived perennials with a large, low basal rosette about 60 cm across, followed by a stout, fleshy flowering stem 30-150 cm tall the second year, with stems covered in webby or woolly hairs. Leaves are deeply pinnately lobed, with every lobe terminating in a long rigid yellow spine; true to its name, “horridulum,” it is covered in these spines. Discoid heads vary from pale to creamy yellow, reddish purple, or deep pink. The collar of 4-8 leafy, heavily spined involucral bracts that protect the head like a cage is a good field character for identification.
Cirsium ochrocentrum—Yellowspine Thistle
Cirsium ochrocentrum is another Cardueae tribe and Carduinae subtribe member native to the central and southwestern USA, south into northern Mexico, where it thrives in dry, short-grass prairies and desert grasslands. It is a deeply taprooted perennial herb 30-100 cm tall with heavily branched stems covered in white hairs (tomentum). Intensely armed leaves are alternately arranged and deeply pinnatifid almost to the midrib with rigid, wavy, triangular lobes terminating in a long, bright straw-yellow spine and leaf bases that extend down the stem like wings (decurrent). Flowers are solitary discoid dome-shaped heads that are lavender purple to rose pink or rarely creamy white. Each overlapping involucral bract is armed with a spreading yellow spine with a dark resinous ridge.
Plectocephalus americanus still appears under its synonym, Centaurea americana, but that genus is an Old World one. It is part of the Centaureinae subtribe of the Cardueae tribe, which often has these complex, paper-like, fringed, or comb-like structures on the tips of the involucral bracts, shown here overlapping so tightly they appear to form a basket. Unlike true thistles that have “normal” discoid heads, the Centaureinae have modified outer florets that look more like ray florets but are completely sterile, while the inner ones are shorter and bisexual and often paler in color.
Some Species of Asteraceae: Cichorioideae Subfamily Found in North America
Cichorium intybus, or common chicory, is a classic representation of the Cichoriinae subtribe with ligulate (ray florets only) flower heads with 5-toothed tips, and every tissue in the plant secretes a milky white latex. The ligulate heads are 2-4 cm across, arranged in small stalkless clusters along the branches. Ray florets are a clear sky-blue but rarely can be pink or white, and they open in the morning but close by midday or when it’s cloudy. Leaves are alternately arranged and highly variable, becoming much smaller and less toothed, stalked, or lobed further up the stem, where they clasp with an arrow-like base. It is a Eurasian weed that has widely naturalized across North America; this was in Edgewood, BC, Canada.
Hieracium lachenalii is an invasive Eurasian weed of the Hieraciinae subtribe that has widely naturalized across North America. It is a fibrous-rooted hardy perennial that grows 20-90 cm tall and does not have the aboveground runners of its invasive relatives. Leaves are in a basal rosette with coarsely and sharply toothed margins and a leafy flowering stem with leaves that become smaller and clasp the stem. Flowers are in loose round-topped clusters (cymes) in ligulate heads with overlapping bisexual and fertile ray florets with dark glandular hairs on their involucral bracts. This was in Pitt River, BC, Canada.
Mycelis muralis is another Eurasian weed widely naturalized in North America, where it thrives in shaded, moist forest understories like this one I found in Pender Harbour, BC, Canada. Wall Lettuce is a member of the Lactucinae, or lettuce subtribe. It is a slender, hairless annual or biennial 30-90 cm tall with fibrous roots and exuding a white, watery latex when bruised. Leaves are alternate with deeply pinnatifid blades with large distinct terminal lobes that are triangular and sharply toothed, narrowing to a winged petiole with clasping lobes (auricles) and becoming much reduced further up. Flowers are small ligulate heads containing 5 bright yellow florets, each with 5 involucral bracts and a tiny outer ring of reduced scales.
Calycoseris wrightii is part of the Microseridinae subtribe of Cichorieae; this one is native to southwestern North America, where it thrives in arid deserts, washes, and caliche soils. It is a delicate low-branching spring or winter annual 5-30 cm tall with smooth hairless stems and milky white sap. Leaves are highly reduced, becoming thread-like up the stem until they look like tiny scales. Flowers are showy white ligulate heads with 5-toothed ray florets that are snowy-white but sometimes become pale yellow towards their base.
Tragopogon dubius is part of the Scorzonerinae subtribe of the Cichorieae tribe that is native to Eurasia but has invaded virtually all of North America in the past century. It is a robust biennial, occasionally annual, herb 30-100 cm tall from a fleshy white taproot. Leaves are alternate and look like blades of grass except they widen at their base to clasp the stems. It produces large solitary terminal ligulate heads 4-6 cm across made of lemon-yellow 5-toothed strap-shaped florets. This species can be identified by its 8-13 long, lance-shaped involucral bracts that extend far past the petal-like ray florets, giving it a starburst green border. Heads open in the morning and close by noon.
Acourtia nana is part of the Mutisioideae subfamily and the Nassauvieae tribe, native to the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts of the southwestern USA and northern Mexico. It is a dwarf tufted perennial growing 5-20 cm tall, spreading from rhizomes with erect, mostly unbranched stems. Leaves are alternate and distinct for being rigidly leathery, smooth, and waxy lime-green to blue-green with coarsely wavy-toothed margins that terminate with a long straw-colored spine resembling holly. Its flower heads are unique, being strictly two-lipped (bilabiate) with an outer, wider lip with 3 teeth and an inner lip that splits into 2 narrow, curling ribbons.
Vernonia baldwinii is an Asteraceae that is part of the Vernonioideae subfamily and the Vernonieae tribe and Vernoniinae subtribe that is native to the central USA (this one was in Oklahoma). It is a clump-forming leafy perennial herb 60-150 cm tall from short rhizomes, forming colonies. Leaves are alternate and simple, tapering to a point with sharply toothed margins and an upper surface that is sandpaper-like and a lower one with soft hairs and yellow resin glands. Flowers are small but showy discoid heads made of 15-35 long disc florets in royal purple-magenta, with heads arranged in flat-topped terminal clusters (corymbose cymes).
Uses of the Asteraceae Family
Some of the foods we eat every day come from the Asteraceae family, including Lactuca (lettuce), Cynara (globe artichoke), Cichorium (chicory and endive), Tragopogon (salsify), Helianthus annuus (sunflower), Smallanthus sonchifolius (yacón), Carthamus tinctorius (safflower oil), and Helianthus tuberosus (Jerusalem artichoke).
We also get powerful natural insecticides from the Asteraceae, known as “pyrethrum,” which comes from Tanacetum cinerariifolium. We also get a safflower dye from Carthamus.
Numerous herbs, both medicinal and culinary, also come from the Asteraceae family. Chamomile comes from Matricaria chamomilla (German chamomile) and Chamaemelum nobile (Roman chamomile). Calendula (marigold) is grown commercially for herbal teas, herbal salves, home remedies, and potpourri. Echinacea is widely used as a medicinal tea. We also use Artemisia in absinthe (A. absinthium) and tarragon (A. dracunculus), but we also use Tagetes lucida, another Asteraceae, as a winter tarragon in climates where the other won’t survive.
Then we have the countless hundreds of genera used as ornamentals, like the Heliantheae (sunflower) tribe, but also genera like Chrysanthemum, Argyranthemum, Calendula, Dahlia, Gerbera, Dendranthema, Tagetes, Zinnia, and more.
Finally, the Asteraceae are also some of our common agricultural, lawn (Taraxacum!), and landscape weeds and Ambrosia and others of its tribe, which are notorious hay fever plants.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of Asteraceae
The Asteraceae are among the most important plant families for wildlife because their flower heads act like pollinator platforms, providing abundant, easily accessible nectar and pollen from sometimes hundreds of tiny florets grouped into one place for efficiently collecting nectar from multiple flowers in a single visit. That feature is quite likely why the Asteraceae have been so incredibly successful ecologically. Many Asteraceae species are also late bloomers, providing valuable nectar for pollinators when other resources become more scarce.
Asteraceae fruits, often called cypselae or achenes, are regularly eaten by birds and small mammals (and people!), while the leaves and stems support a wide range of herbivorous insects, including many butterfly and moth larvae, but also small and large animals.
Ecologically, members of the Asteraceae are crucial in helping stabilize soils, colonizing disturbed habitats, and providing structure in grasslands, deserts, wetlands, alpine meadows, forests, and coastal systems. Some Asteraceae species are early successional plants that quickly occupy bare or disturbed ground, while others are long-lived components of stable native plant communities. Because the family includes annuals, perennials, shrubs, vines, trees, and cushion plants, Asteraceae participate in ecosystem functions in nearly every major terrestrial habitat on the planet.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Asteraceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Asteraceae Family
The Asteraceae consist mostly of perennial, biennial, and annual herbs, but sometimes they also come in tree, arborescent, shrub, or vine form, which may be the standard form in certain tribes or subtribes. Plants may be normal, but some are switch plants, and others are succulents. They are helophytic, mesophytic, or xerophytic, or rarely they are rooted hydrophytes (e.g., some Bidens, Cotula).
The Asteraceae are often laticiferous, nearly always in Cichorioideae, but they may be non-laticiferous without colored juice, as in almost all Asteroideae. They might have essential oils or resins but may not. Plants often grow from a taproot, but some species have fibrous root systems, and some form caudices or rhizomes.
Herbaceous stems are aerial, branched, and cylindrical, generally erect and self-supporting but can be prostrate or ascending or, rarely, climbing; they have glandular hairs.
Asteraceae leaves may be well-developed or sometimes are much reduced, and they often form a basal aggregation. Leaves usually lack stipules. Leaves of hydrophytes are both submerged and emergent. Leaves are usually arranged in an alternate spiral but may occasionally be opposite or whorled. They are herbaceous, leathery, fleshy, membranous, or modified into spines and are petiolate to sessile. They may be sheathing when present margins are free. Leaves may be gland-dotted and may be aromatic, fetid, or odorless. The leaves are simple or compound from primordial lobes and are sometimes peltate.
The leaf lamina may be entire or dissected, pinnatifid, palmatifid, runcinate, or spinose. Lamina margins are entire, crenate, serrate, or dentate and may be flat, revolute, or involute. Domatia (pits) are seen in Vernonia. Leaf lamina is variously dorsiventral (usually), bifacial, or centric. Stomata is usually anomocytic or anisocytic. Hairs are usually present and appear exclusively multicellular, uniseriate, or multiseriate, branched, or simple. They often lack glands and display diverse types of shaggy, candelabra-like, bladder-like, or peltate scales or may have glandular hairs with uniseriate or multiseriate stalks and unicellular or multicellular heads, sometimes depressed below the leaf surface, resulting in pellucid dots and sometimes laticiferous. Lamina usually has secretory cavities with resins or latex. The mesophyll may or may not have crystals.
Flowers of the Asteraceae Family
Plants come in a wide variety of sexual forms, including gynomonoecious (usually with hermaphrodite disc florets and female ray florets), hermaphrodite, monoecious, dioecious, and rarely androdioecious, gynodioecious, or polygamonomoecious. Pollination is mostly entomophilous but is also anemophilous, especially in the hay fever plants of the Anthemideae tribe. The pollination mechanism is conspicuously specialized via stylar modification with active presentation or with irritable stamens in the Cynareae. However, anemophilous forms are unspecialized.
Asteraceae have unique inflorescences that are nearly always pseudanthial indeterminate composite heads except when primary heads are reduced to single florets and are grouped into secondary heads (e.g., Echinops). They may have radiate heads (both ligulate/ray and disc flowers) or either ligulate or disc florets (discoid heads) and often have involucral bracts that often resemble a calyx, especially when bracts are only present in one series.
Ligulate (ray) florets vary in number in radiate heads but may be absent altogether in species like the Carduoideae with disciform heads. Other species (like dandelions) have only ray florets, but all are still composite flowers attached to a pitted disc.
Flowers are bracteate (bracts forming an involucre in one to several series), individually minute to small, regular to very irregular (those in each head are all alike and ligulate zygomorphic (Cichorioideae)), variously all tubular actinomorphic (in Asteroideae), or combining central actinomorphic and marginal ray florets. Flowers are 5(4)-merous and tricyclic or tetracyclic.
The perianth usually has a distinct calyx and corolla or may be petaline (the calyx is sometimes absent in Ambrosia and relatives), made of 3–35 (rarely fewer) parts in 1 or 2 whorls.
A calyx, when present, is made of 2–30 parts (rarely 1) but is usually represented by scales, awns, or bristles in 1 whorl. It is often accrescent, becoming the pappus, but occasionally it does not persist.
Corolla 1–3 on ligulate florets or 5(4) on disc florets, always in 1 whorl. It is connate, and ligulate florets are usually fused and lie on their side to look like a single “petal” with 3(2) lobes. It is valvate and may be unequal, regular, or bilabiate (in Mutisieae).
Androecium of the Asteraceae Family
The androecium is made of 3–5 fertile members in 1 whorl, adnate to the corolla tube, alternating with the lobes, and opposite the sepals; they are coherent. Stamens are short and filamentous with anthers cohering, almost always forming a tube around the style, with a few exceptions in anemophilous Anthemideae. Anthers are basifixed, dehiscing via longitudinal slits, and are tetrasporangiate or occasionally bisporangiate. Anthers are usually appendaged apically or sometimes also basal.
Gynoecium of the Asteraceae Family
The gynoecium is 2-carpeled and syncarpous, and the ovary is 1-locular, median, and always inferior. An epigynous disk is usually present around the base of the 2 styles. Styles are partially joined and attenuate from the ovary. There are 2 stigmas that are dry type, papillate, and Group II type. Placentation is always basal with 1 ovule per cavity that is ascending, non-arillate, anatropous, unitegmic, and tenuinucellate.
Fruit of the Asteraceae Family
The fruits are almost always non-fleshy, indehiscent cypselas, but occasionally they can be a drupe. The dispersal unit is typically via the remaining hairy pappus that carries the cypsela in the wind.
Seeds are non-endospermic or very thin. They may be oval, flat, or rounded and are typically straw, brown, or nearly black in color.
Taxonomy of the Asteraceae Family
The Asteraceae is currently the largest plant family in the world, with the Orchidaceae as a close second, although the latter has often been first, depending on the progress of new species descriptions by scientists. The Asteraceae currently has at least 25,040 species in 1,610 genera of the Asterales order within the core eudicot clade. We have it broken into 16 subfamilies as follows:
Asteroideae is the largest subfamily of Asteraceae, containing ~70% of the family’s species found worldwide. Members are typically characterized by radiate flower heads with three-lobed, usually female ray florets, bisexual disc florets, and distinctive style branches with stigmatic bands terminating in sterile appendages with sweeping hairs. However, some members do have discoid or disciform heads, and occasionally the ray florets are sterile. Here we will break the subfamily into its 22 currently accepted tribes to make them more manageable. Note that each tribe is further broken down into subtribes, but my goal here is to give a thorough overview and not get too ‘stuck in the weeds,’ so to speak.
Barnadesioideae are the earliest diverging lineage of the Asteraceae and retain several ancestral characteristics. They are perennial herbs, shrubs, or trees possessing tracheids with bordered pits and bicellular hairs. Leaves are alternate and entire, the receptacle is flat and pilose, and the phyllaries are often colored. Cypselas are often ribbed and usually villous, with various pappus hairs. It is endemic to South America.
Carduoideae is the thistle subfamily of the Asteraceae, found nearly worldwide but mostly concentrated around the Mediterranean Basin, southern Africa, and southwestern Asia, although some members are native to the Americas. It is a large and diverse subfamily of annual and perennial herbs or shrubs to small trees, often recognizable by their spiny leaves and involucral bracts (although some are unarmed) and exclusively discoid flower heads made of tubular florets (no ray florets). The style branches typically bear sweeping hairs, and the cypselae usually carry a well-developed pappus of scales or bristles for wind dispersal. The subfamily is divided here into two tribes after the transfer of the Oldenburgieae and Dicomeae tribes to the new Dicomoideae subfamily based on modern molecular phylogenetics.
Chicorioideae, or the chicory subfamily, is a distinctive subfamily of the Asteraceae with a single tribe, the Cichorieae. All have white latex, and almost all have flower heads with 5-dentate, mostly yellow, ligulate, bisexual flowers (ray florets only). Most members have alternate leaves, often in basal rosettes, and cypselae with a persistent pappus of bristles, scales, or both, used for wind dispersal. The subfamily consists of about 1,800 sexually reproducing species plus thousands of apomictic microspecies, so species numbers here are often approximate and do not include apomictic microspecies. The subfamily shows the greatest diversity in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, especially Eurasia and the Mediterranean, but it also has a strong presence in the Americas. While their ligulate flowers and white latex make them easy to recognize, extensive parallel evolution has caused instabilities in classification. This classification follows the subtribal classification as maintained by the International Cichorieae Network, which reflects the latest molecular phylogenetic research. Thus, not all classifications will agree with older sources, but the most up-to-date ones are used. For further clarity, we break into subtribes to enable meaningful comparisons.
Dicomoideae was recently transferred from Carduoideae as a separate subfamily of the Asteraceae, restricted to Africa and Madagascar. They are perennial herbs, shrubs, and small trees with alternate and often densely hairy or leathery leaves adapted to dry habitats and are mostly armed with spines or thorn-like branches. Flower heads are discoid, and the involucral bracts are often rigid or spiny. Cypselae generally have a pappus of rough or feathery bristles for wind dispersal.
Famatinanthoideae is a monospecific early-diverging Asteraceae subfamily (Famatinanthus decussatus) found in Andean Argentina. It is a small shrub with a clasping petiole, phyllaries in 3 series, and a head made of bilabiate ray florets.
Gochnatioideae is a small, early-diverging Asteraceae subfamily with a center of diversity in South America and significant additional diversity in the Caribbean and north into the southern United States. It consists of shrubs, small trees, and some perennial herbs. Members have alternate leaves, usually solitary or few-headed capitula, and short, rounded style branches that are glabrous on the back, a distinctive feature separating them from several related subfamilies. Flower heads are usually discoid, but some possess peripheral female florets that produce a radiate appearance.
Gymnarrhenoideae is a small, early-diverging Asteraceae subfamily with a highly disjunct geographical and ecological distribution from the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East to the alpine habitats of the Himalayas. It consists of one annual and one perennial herb, which both have dimorphic capitula, functionally unisexual florets, and basal leaf rosettes.
Hecastocleidoideae is another small, early-diverging Asteraceae subfamily, but it’s endemic to the arid mountains of the southwestern United States, where it grows on desert scrub and pinyon-juniper woodlands. It consists of only a single species of spiny, drought-adapted shrub with rigid, spine-tipped leaves, unusual clusters of single-flowered capitula, and deeply lobed, bisexual florets, with cypselae having a reduced pappus of unequal scales.
Multisoideae are more or less shrubby Asteraceae plants mostly from South America, although a few genera have spread to nearly every continent. Members are mostly herbs with deeply lobed disc florets, tailed anthers, and prominently exserted, mostly hairless styles, but some species are vines, shrubs, or small trees.
Pertyoideae is a small Asteraceae subfamily restricted to Asia made of perennial herbs, subshrubs, and shrubs with alternate or basal leaves, solitary or few-headed capitula, and florets with deeply divided but weakly bilabiate corollas. Members possess short, often hairy or papillose style branches, and cypselae have a persistent pappus of bristles or scales.
Stifftioideae is a small South American Asteraceae subfamily of mostly shrubs and small trees with a few perennial herbs with alternate leaves. Flowers are large, discoid capitula made of tubular bisexual florets and long, deeply divided corollas that are often brightly colored for pollination by birds or large insects. The 10-ribbed cypselae typically have a persistent plumose pappus for wind dispersal.
Vernonioideae is a large and diverse subfamily of Asteraceae, centered in tropical and subtropical regions, with major centers of diversity in tropical and southern Africa, the tropical Andes, Brazil, Madagascar, and parts of tropical Asia. Members include annual and perennial herbs, shrubs, trees, and climbing plants, with most having alternate leaves and discoid heads made of tubular bisexual florets in purple, pink, lavender, white, yellow, or orange depending on the tribe, and the cypselae typically have a persistent pappus of capillary, scabrid, or bristly hairs. Here we break the Vernonioideae subfamily into its six currently accepted tribes.
Wunderlichioideae is another small early diverging Asteraceae subfamily with an interesting disjunct distribution from the Guiana Highlands and eastern Brazil to eastern Asia. They are mostly shrubs and small trees with alternate leaves, with a few perennial herbs adapted to seasonally dry or montane environments. Members have discoid capitula made of tubular bisexual florets, glabrous style branches, and cypselae with a pappus of numerous bristles.
Genera of the Asteraceae Family:
Asteroideae Subfamily: Anthemideae Tribe:
The Anthemideae is an Asteraceae tribe with primary centers of diversity in the Mediterranean, Asia, and southern Africa and includes familiar members commonly called “chamomile,” among others. It is also widespread from North to South America, but with much less diversity. Members are typically annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs that are often very aromatic from abundant essential oils. Leaves are often finely divided or dissected. Flowers are radiate or discoid, with receptacles that bear scales or become conical in fruit. The cypselae usually lack a pappus or have a reduced crown.
The Astereae are the second-largest tribe in the Asteroideae subfamily by species number but the largest by genus, including familiar members like sunflowers and asters, which make it easy to recognize them as members of the Asteraceae. Its primary centers of diversity are North and South America but also Australia and southern Africa, making it one of the most geographically widespread tribes. It includes annuals, perennials, shrubs, and even a few trees. Leaves are generally alternate but are opposite in some genera. They typically have radiate flower heads with numerous narrow ray florets surrounding yellow disc florets. Cypselae usually have a well-developed papus of bristles for wind dispersal.
The Athroismeae are a small Asteraceae tribe of herbs and small shrubs, often adapted to dry habitats. They typically have alternate leaves and small, usually discoid flower heads arranged in dense clusters. Cypselae often have a short crown-like pappus or are lacking entirely. It is mostly from Africa, Madagascar, and tropical Asia. In the Americas it is mostly absent, with only one Centipeda species native to C. Chile.
The Bahieae are a fairly small Asteraceae tribe of annual or perennial herbs or small shrubs mostly adapted to arid climates. Leaves are often opposite near the base but become alternate further up the stem. Flower heads usually radiate with yellow florets, and the cypselae often have scales or short awns rather than long bristles. This tribe is almost entirely restricted to North America, especially the southwestern USA and Mexico. Note that Bahia itself has been reshuffled into 3 other genera, and currently some of my distribution data still uses that genus name until I can resolve it, but for now it has been removed from this list.
The Calenduleae are a small Asteraceae tribe mostly from southern Africa and the Mediterranean, although they have been introduced elsewhere. Members are herbs or subshrubs with alternate leaves and often large, showy, radiate heads. Ray florets are often female and produce dimorphic fruits, while disc florets are bisexual. Cypselae often differ significantly in shape even in the same flower head.
This Asteraceae tribe is almost entirely endemic to western North America, adapted to deserts and seasonally dry habitats. It includes annual and perennial herbs with finely divided leaves and radiate or discoid flower heads. Receptacles usually have chaffy scales, and the pappus may have scales, short bristles, or be absent.
The Coreopsideae tribe is centered around Mexico and Central America but can be found throughout the Americas as well as tropical Africa and has been introduced elsewhere. It consists of herbs, shrubs, and a few small trees with opposite or alternate leaves and usually showy radiate heads, often made of bright yellow or bright orange ray florets, making them popular garden plants. Cypselae are often flattened with barbed awns or scales to facilitate dispersal by animals.
This monogeneric Asteraceae tribe is located in the mountains of Europe, the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and western Asia and is not found in the Americas. It is a group of perennial herbs, often from rhizomes or tuberous roots, with simple alternate to basal leaves. Flower heads are typically solitary and radiate with yellow ray and disc florets and a naked receptacle. Cypselae usually have a pappus of fine bristles. a reduced crown.
Doronicum (30).
Asteroideae Subfamily: Eupatorieae Tribe:
The second-largest tribe in the Asteroideae subfamily, and the Asteraceae as a whole, is almost exclusively endemic to the Americas, especially the neotropics, with ~2-3 genera found naturally outside the Americas and some others now introduced. Members are herbs, shrubs, climbers, and even some small trees; leaves are often opposite. They have discoid flower heads made almost entirely of tubular bisexual florets, and style branches often are elongated with sweeping hairs. Cypselae usually have a conspicuous pappus.
This monospecific Asteraceae tribe is a woody scrambling shrub with alternate leaves and small discoid flower heads, a reduced pappus, and unique floral characteristics. It is critically endangered and found only on serpentine soils in eastern Cuba.
Feddea (1).
Asteroideae Subfamily: Gnaphalieae Tribe:
Most genera of the Gnaphalieae tribe of Asteraceae are from Australia, followed by Southern Africa, but they are a cosmopolitan genus, and another smaller center of diversity is found in South America, and they are still relatively common throughout the Americas. Members are herbs and shrubs, often covered with dense white or gray woolly hairs. Flowers are usually discound heads surrounded by dry, papery involucral bracts that often remain colorful after flowering. Cypselae generally possess a well-developed pappus.
This Asteraceae tribe is overwhelmingly American and most diverse in southern North America, especially Mexico, where many are endemic. Helenieae are mostly annual and perennial herbs with radiate or discoid flower heads and often aromatic leaves. The receptacle typically has chaffy scales, while the pappus may be absent, scaled, or awned. Many are found in grasslands, deserts, and open woods.
The Heliantheae, or sunflower tribe of the Asteraceae, are overwhelmingly concentrated in Mexico and Central America with high rates of endemism and diversity, but they are also found throughout the Americas, with approximately 7 genera endemic to Africa, Asia, and Australia, and some having broader pantropical distributions. Most Heliantheae are herbs or shrubs, but some grow to the size of small trees. Leaves are usually hairy or rough and arranged in opposite pairs but may be alternate and often contain resin glands. Flowers are usually in radiate or discoid heads with receptacles with chaffy bracts, and the cypselae typically lack a conspicuous pappus. The anthers are usually blackened, and specialized pollination is common in the tribe.
The Inuleae are primarily concentrated around the Mediterranean, Africa, and Asia, with only a small number native to the Americas and a handful more introduced here. Some members are placed in the Plucheeae tribe, but here we use a narrower definition of that tribe and place most of those here instead. This tribe includes herbs and shrubs with alternate leaves, often aromatic or woolly, and having mostly discoid flower heads. The bracts are typically in overlapping series, and cypselae usually have a capillary pappus.
This Asteraceae tribe is sometimes considered a subtribe of Heliantheae, but not on the Compositae website, which we defer to here. It is a highly restricted tribe, native almost entirely to western North America, especially in California, USA, and Baja California, Mexico, in drought- and fire-prone environments. The tribe is made of annuals, perennials, and shrubs, often bearing sticky glandular hairs with aromatic resins. Flowers are radiate or discoid heads, and the cypselae typically lack a pappus, like most of the Heliantheae.
This is another Asteraceae tribe that is mostly endemic to the American continents. It has a center of diversity in Mexico and Central America, with one (of two) former African endemic genera now introduced to the Americas. Members are herbs, vines, or shrubs with opposite leaves and fairly small radiate or discoid flower heads. Cypselae are often laterally compressed and may have awns or scales instead of a long pappus, and several genera are specialized for animal dispersal.
This small Asteraceae tribe is another one with a center of diversity in Mexico and Central America and is entirely native to the Americas, typically found in seasonally dry tropical forests. The Neurolaeneae bears similarities with the Millerieae tribe. It includes herbs and shrubs with opposite leaves and yellow radiate or discoid flower heads with flattened cypselae that may bear short awns or scales.
This small Asteraceae tribe is restricted to North America, with a center of diversity in the SW USA and NW Mexico. It consists mostly of annual and perennial herbs or small shrubs adapted to rocky, arid habitats; many are narrow endemics confined to cliffs or desert mountains. Flower heads are usually small and radiate, and cypselae typically have scales or short awns.
Some members of the Inuleae tribe of the Asteraceae are frequently placed here. Under this narrower definition, the genus is pantropical and most diverse in the Americas (Pluchea) or endemic to Mauritius (Cylindrocline). Members are aromatic herbs, shrubs, and subshrubs with alternate, often densely pubescent leaves. Flowers are discoid heads made of tubular florets with female florets surrounding bisexual central florets. Cypselae are often ribbed and crowned with a fine pappus.
Cylindrocline (2), Pluchea (61).
Asteroideae Subfamily: Polymnieae Tribe:
This monogeneric Asteraceae tribe is restricted to eastern North America, mostly the USA, but it does extend into Canada. They are primarily found in rich woodlands, streambanks, and mesic habitats. The members are perennial herbs with often stout, hollow stems and large opposite to alternate leaves that are commonly lobed or coarsely toothed. The flower heads are radiate, with yellow ray and disc florets, and the cypselae lack a pappus or may have only a minute crown.
Polymnia (4).
Asteroideae Subfamily: Senecioneae Tribe:
The Senecioneae are nearly cosmopolitan, with centers of diversity in southern Africa, the Mediterranean, Mexico, and the Andes of South America, but they are well represented throughout the American continents. Members are annual and perennial herbs, shrubs, vines, succulents, and small trees. Flowers are radiate or discoid, with involucral bracts usually in a single series and often accompanied by a calculus (ring of smaller outer bracts), which often helps in identification, though it’s not universal. The cypselae mostly have conspicuous pappus for wind dispersal, but a few genera have them modified or reduced.
This tribe is entirely native to the Americas, with the highlands of Mexico as the primary center of diversification, with additional diversity in the southwestern United States, Central America, and the Andes. Members are perennial herbs, subshrubs, and some shrubs, which are often strongly aromatic due to abundant oil glands in the usually opposite and pinnately divided leaves. Flowers are radiate or discoid heads with yellow, orange, or white florets, and the cypselae typically have a pappus of short scales or awns.
The Barnadesioideae subfamily is the earliest diverging lineage of the Asteraceae and retains several ancestral characteristics. Members are shrubs, trees, or perennial herbs with alternate leaves, often with axillary or terminal flower heads. A distinctive feature is the presence of axillary spines and pollen grains with small spines, a combination that helps distinguish it from other subfamilies. All members belong to the same tribe, Barnadesieae, and it’s entirely restricted to South America, with centers of diversity in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.
The Cardueae are a fairly large Asteraceae tribe of annual and perennial herbs, with a few shrubs, that are characterized by spiny or prickly leaves and involucral bracts. Flower heads are uniformly discoid and composed entirely of tubular florets, often purple, pink, white, or yellow. Cypselae usually have a conspicuous pappus of plumose or scabrid bristles, and many species have robust taproots adapted to dry environments. Most species are native to the Old World, concentrated around the Mediterranean Basin, the Caucasus, and southwestern Asia, although native genera exist in the Americas and many are introduced from Eurasia.
This is another uncommon tribe among the Asteraceae, made of woody shrubs and trees, also restricted to Africa, both southern and eastern, with a few species extending into the Arabian Peninsula. Members have alternate leaves that are leathery and often densely covered with silvery or whitish hairs beneath. Flower heads are small, discoid, and frequently unisexual, with plants often being dioecious, also not common in the family. The cypselae bear a well-developed pappus of bristles, and many species are aromatic due to the presence of essential oils.
The Chondrillinae is a small Asteraceae tribe concentrated in temperate Eurasia, with only a single invasive weed, Chondrilla juncea, naturalized in the American continents. It consists of perennial herbs, often with deep taproots and basal rosettes, although leafy flowering stems, often pinnatified, are well developed in Chondrilla. The flower heads contain only yellow ligulate, bisexual florets, and the plants produce abundant milky latex. Cypselae are typically elongated with a slender beak and a persistent pappus of fine white bristles.
Caucasoseris (1), Chondrilla (31), Phitosia (1), and Willemetia (2).
The Cichoriinae are another small Asteraceae tribe but are one of the better-known ones, containing the familiar “chicory.” They are mostly annual or perennial herbs with milky latex, basal rosettes or leafy stems, and flower heads composed entirely of yellow to pale blue ligulate, bisexual florets. The cypselae are usually stout and ribbed, often with a persistent pappus of scales or bristles, although it may be reduced or absent. Leaves are generally alternate and range from deeply lobed to entire, while several genera possess coarse bristles or prickles along the stems or leaf margins. This Asteraceae subtribe is concentrated around the Mediterranean Basin, extending into Macaronesia, North Africa, and southwestern Asia, with only one genus native in the Americas (California, USA) and others introduced throughout.
The Crepidinae subtribe is morphologically variable, especially in cypselae structure, pappus form, and leaf arrangement, which have been important in recent generic revisions, so the subtribe is taxonomically active and may still change in the future. They are mostly concentrated in temperate Eurasia with additional diversity in the Mediterranean, although there are a few native genera in the American continents, especially North America. They are mostly annual and perennial herbs with milky latex and typically form basal rosettes or leafy stems. Flowers are heads composed entirely of ligulate, bisexual florets, and the cypselae are usually ribbed, angled, or compressed, often with a beak and a pappus of simple or scabrid bristles.
*Based on chloroplast DNA, Faberia is placed here, but nuclear DNA suggests Lactucinae, so it may have formed as a hybridization between the two subtribes. **Also, Taraxacum is a special case with ~250–300 “macrospecies,” while thousands of apomictic microspecies have also been described.
The Hieraciinae have a center of diversity in Europe, especially in the mountains, extending to Asia. While there is much less diversity, several native and introduced species occur throughout the Americas. The subtribe consists of perennial herbs, many forming basal rosettes with leafy flowering stems and often covered in simple, glandular, or stellate hairs. Flower heads are composed entirely of yellow, orange, or occasionally pale ligulate, bisexual florets, and the plants produce abundant milky latex. Cypselae are slender and ribbed, bearing a persistent pappus of bristles for wind dispersal. Many of these Asteraceae members reproduce through apomixis, resulting in numerous locally endemic microspecies with subtle morphological differences.
*Similar to Faberia, the subtribe Hieraciinae has a notoriously complex evolutionary history with widespread ancient intergeneric hybridization, extensive allele sharing, and incomplete lineage sorting across Andryala. **Also, species estimates for Hieracium and Pilosella vary widely because many botanists recognize thousands of apomictic microspecies, while others treat these as components of broader species complexes.
The Hyoseridinae are an Asteraceae subtribe concentrated around the Mediterranean Basin, North Africa, Macaronesia, and western Asia, while Sonchus is nearly cosmopolitan. No genera are native to the Americas, but Sonchus is widely introduced. The subtribe consists of annual and perennial herbs with abundant milky latex and flower heads composed entirely of ligulate, bisexual florets. Plants typically form basal rosettes or erect leafy stems, although growth forms vary considerably. The cypselae are typically ribbed or angled with a persistent pappus of simple or plumose bristles for wind dispersal.
The Hypochaeridinae is another Asteraceae subtribe that has seen significant changes recently, with several genera being consolidated or transferred to Scorzonerinae based on recent molecular work. They are concentrated around the Mediterranean Basin and western Eurasia, with a major secondary center of diversification in the Andes and southern South America. Members are primarily of annual and perennial herbs with abundant milky latex and flower heads composed entirely of ligulate, bisexual florets. Most species form basal rosettes, although some develop leafy flowering stems. The cypselae are typically ribbed and crowned by a persistent pappus of plumose or scabrid bristles, while the leaves range from entire to deeply pinnatifid.
The modern treatment has greatly reduced Lactucinae, resulting in discrepancies between authoritative sources. Under the new description, the center of diversity for this Asteraceae subtribe is now southwestern China and the Himalayas, with limited native species in the Americas but several introduced. The Lactucinae are primarily perennial herbs, although a few annuals occur. Members produce abundant milky latex and possess erect leafy stems with alternate leaves that range from entire to deeply divided and are especially common in montane forests, woodland edges, and alpine meadows. Flower heads are composed entirely of ligulate, bisexual florets, which are typically yellow, blue, or violet. The cypselae are usually compressed and often terminate in a slender beak supporting a persistent pappus of fine white bristles.
*Based on nuclear DNA, Faberia is placed here, but chloroplast DNA suggests Crepidinae, so it may have formed as a hybridization between the two subtribes.
Microseridinae is a predominantly New World subtribe of the Asteraceae centered in western North America, particularly California, the Great Basin, and the Pacific Northwest. A smaller secondary lineage occurs in Australia and New Zealand through species of Microseris, with molecular evidence supporting a common ancestry despite their present-day geographic separation. Members are primarily annual and perennial herbs with abundant milky latex and flower heads composed entirely of yellow, cream, or occasionally pink ligulate, bisexual florets. Many species form basal rosettes and produce stems that are leafless to leafy. The cypselae are usually beaked to attenuate and bear a persistent pappus of fine white bristles for wind dispersal. Members occupy a wide variety of open habitats, including prairies, deserts, sagebrush, chaparral, montane meadows, and coastal environments.
The Scolyminae are an Asteraceae subtribe from the Mediterranean Basin and surrounding area and were only introduced in the USA and the American continents. It consists of robust annual or perennial herbs with spiny-winged stems, leathery and prickly leaves, and abundant milky latex. The flower heads are composed entirely of yellow ligulate, bisexual florets and are typically clustered in the upper leaf axils or at the ends of stems. Cypselae are stout and ribbed, usually bearing a persistent pappus of rough scales or short bristles. Members are well adapted to dry, open habitats and possess numerous structural defenses against herbivory.
The Scorzonerinae subtribe of the Asteraceae have undergone some of the most extensive reorganizations, with genera split, merged, or transferred based on molecular phylogenetic studies. The center of diversity is the Mediterranean Basin, southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, and central to southwestern Asia, with only the occasional introduction into the American continents. The Scorzonerinae consists primarily of annual and perennial herbs with abundant milky latex, typically forming basal rosettes or erect leafy stems with narrow, entire to pinnatifid leaves. Flower heads are composed entirely of ligulate, bisexual florets, and cypselae are usually elongated and ribbed, often terminating in a conspicuous beak and crowned by a persistent pappus of plumose or scabrid bristles. Members are adapted to open grasslands, steppes, semi-deserts, and rocky slopes.
The Warioniinae is the smallest and most isolated subtribe of the Cichorieae in the Asteraceae family, consisting of a single, highly distinctive species found in northwestern Africa. Molecular studies have confirmed that it represents an early-diverging lineage within Cichorieae rather than belonging to a separate tribe. It consists of a single aromatic woody shrub (unusual in this tribe) with deeply lobed gray-green leaves, abundant milky latex, and flower heads made of yellow ligulate, bisexual florets and cypselae with a persistent pappus of fine white bristles.
Warionia (1).
Corymbioideae Subfamily:
This early-diverging monogeneric Asteraceae subfamily is a new recognition after modern molecular phylogenetic studies showed it to be one of the earliest branches, warranting their recognition as a distinct subfamily. They are all endemic to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa and are comprised of small perennial herbs with grass-like leaves and highly condensed flower heads in dense corymbose inflorescence. They are distinguished by their capitulum, which is reduced to a single floret enclosed by several overlapping bracts, making it a derived rather than primitive feature and very unique in the family.
Corymbium (7-9).
Dicomoideae Subfamily: Dicomeae Tribe:
This is another newly recognized Asteraceae subfamily that was formerly a tribe of the Carduoideae. The Dicomeae tribe is restricted to Africa and Madagascar, with no native representatives in the American continents. Members are perennial herbs, shrubs, and small trees with alternate and often densely hairy or leathery leaves adapted to dry habitats and are mostly armed with spines or thorn-like branches. Flower heads are discoid, and the involucral bracts are often rigid or spiny. Cypselae generally have a pappus of rough or feathery bristles for wind dispersal.
This monogeneric Asteraceae tribe is endemic to southern Africa and is made of woody shrubs and small trees, fairly unusual in the family, with leathery leaves and relatively large, discoid flower heads. The involucral bracts are in numerous overlapping series, and the cypselae bear a well-developed pappus of bristles. Members are adapted to nutrient-poor, rocky habitats and exhibit several woody characteristics unusual within the family. Recent molecular phylogenetic evidence transferred it from the Carduoideae to this new family (Mandel et al. 2019).
Oldenburgia (4).
Famatinanthoideae Subfamily:
This is another one of the more recently recognized subfamilies in Asteraceae, having been established after research showed that Famatinanthus was an isolated early-diverging lineage distinct from other subfamilies. Like the earliest diverging lineage, the Barnadesioideae subfamily, this new group is also endemic to South America. However, it is a highly restricted subfamily that consists of a single species endemic to the Sierra de Famatina in the northwestern Andes of Argentina between 1,800 and 2,700 m elevation. Famatinanthus decussatus is a woody shrub with evergreen opposite leaves, solitary radiate flower heads, and cream-colored florets with unusual styles unlike any other in the Asteraceae family.
Famatinanthus (1).
Gochnatioideae Subfamily:
Gochnatioideae is a small, early-diverging Asteraceae subfamily restricted to the Americas, with a center of diversity in South America and significant additional diversity in the Caribbean, with some also found in Mexico and extending north into the southern United States. It consists of shrubs, small trees, and some perennial herbs. Members are characterized by alternate leaves, usually solitary or few-headed capitula, and short, rounded style branches that are glabrous on the back, a distinctive feature separating them from several related subfamilies. Flower heads are usually discoid, but some possess peripheral female florets that may give them a radiate appearance.
Gymnarrhenoideae is a small, early-diverging Asteraceae subfamily with a highly disjunct geographical and ecological distribution from the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East to the alpine habitats of the Himalayas. It consists of one annual and one perennial herb, which both share distinctive characteristics, including dimorphic capitula, functionally unisexual florets, basal leaf rosettes, and the absence of latex and spines.
Cavea (1), Gymnarrhena (1).
Hecastocleidoideae Subfamily:
Hecastocleidoideae is a small, early-diverging Asteraceae subfamily consisting of a single species of spiny, drought-adapted shrub. It has rigid, spine-tipped leaves, unusual clusters of single-flowered capitula (exceptionally rare and basal in the Asteraceae lineage), and deeply lobed, bisexual florets. The cypselae bear a reduced pappus of unequal scales rather than the bristles. The subfamily is endemic to the arid mountains of the southwestern United States, growing on dry rocky slopes, desert scrub, and open pinyon-juniper woodlands.
Hecastocleis (1).
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Mutisieae Tribe:
The Mutisieae tribe of the Asteraceae are almost predominantly in the Americas, with a center of diversity in the tropical and subtropical Andes of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, northern Chile, and northwestern Argentina, but some do extend into North America and elsewhere. Members are primarily perennial herbs, although shrubs, vines, and small trees also occur. They usually have alternate leaves and small to often large, showy capitula with strongly bilabiate or deeply lobed corollas and flower heads that are often solitary or loosely arranged. Many species possess brightly colored ray florets for pollination by hummingbirds or large insects, while the disc florets are typically bisexual and tubular. The cypselae typically have a pappus of plumose or scabrid bristles for wind dispersal.
Nassauvieae is an Asteraceae tribe that is almost entirely restricted to South America, where it is one of the dominant tribes of alpine, subalpine, and arid temperate habitats, but does extend north to the southern USA. It consists of perennial herbs, subshrubs, shrubs, and cushion-forming plants, often highly compact and adapted to dry, windy environments. Members have alternate leaves, often densely clustered, leathery, or spiny, and flower heads that are usually discoid with tubular, bisexual florets and ailed anthers. The corollas are typically bilabiate, and the cypselae bear a persistent pappus (plumose or scabrid) for wind dispersal.
The Onoserideae is another Asteraceae tribe restricted to the Americas, primarily South America along the Andes and in nearby dry lowland habitats, but a few species extend into Central America as far north as southern Mexico. Unlike other Mutisioideae, these are primarily annual and perennial herbs, with a few small trees, with alternate leaves that are often from basal rosettes or erect leafy stems and frequently have milky latex. Flower heads are made of tubular to bilabiate bisexual florets with long-tailed anthers and exserted styles. The cypselae are typically ribbed with a persistent pappus of plumose or scabrid bristles for wind dispersal.
The Pertyoideae is a small Asteraceae subfamily restricted to Asia, with a center of diversity in eastern Asia extending from the Himalayas and Afghanistan east to Korea and Japan. Members are perennial herbs, subshrubs, and shrubs with alternate or basal leaves, solitary or few-headed capitula, and florets with deeply divided but weakly bilabiate corollas. Members possess short, often hairy or papillose style branches, and cypselae have a persistent pappus of bristles or scales.
The Stifftioideae is a small Asteraceae subfamily restricted to South America with a center of diversity in the Guiana Highlands and the mountains of southeastern Brazil. They are mostly shrubs and small trees with a few perennial herbs adapted to montane environments with alternate leaves. Flowers are large, discoid capitula made of tubular bisexual florets and long, deeply divided corollas that are often brightly colored for pollination by birds or large insects. The 10-ribbed cypselae typically have a persistent plumose pappus for wind dispersal.
The Arctotideae is an Asteraceae tribe with its center of diversity in southern Africa and Namibia, where most genera are native, except for Cymbonotus, which is native to Australia, and there are members found, mostly introduced, on the American continents. The Arctotideae are mostly annual and perennial herbs, subshrubs, and shrubs, frequently featuring adaptations to seasonally dry environments with deep roots and wooly leaves. They have alternate or basal leaves that are often densely hairy or silvery and radiate flower heads with conspicuous yellow, orange, white, or purple ray florets surrounding tubular disc florets. The involucres typically have spiny or scarious bracts, and the cypselae are frequently winged, flattened, or otherwise modified for seed dispersal.
The Eremothamneae is an Asteraceae tribe that is entirely restricted to southern Africa, with both genera endemic to the Namib Desert region. They are evergreen, drought-adapted shrubs with rigid, often dense and spiny branches, small alternate leaves, and other xerophytic adaptations to survive in arid environments. They have discoid capitula made of tubular bisexual florets and involucres made of numerous overlapping bracts, while the cypselae have a persistent bristly pappus for wind dispersal.
Eremothamnus (1), Hoplophyllum (2).
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Liabeae Tribe:
The Liabeae are another Asteraceae tribe that is restricted to the Americas, with a center of diversity in the moist montane forests of the tropical Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, although they extend into Mexico. They are perennial herbs, shrubs, small trees, or climbing plants with opposite leaves (uncommon in the Asteraceae), with many species containing white latex. They usually have radiate or sometimes discoid capitula made of yellow or orange ray florets surrounding tubular bisexual disc florets. Cypselae have a pappus of capillary or scabrid bristles for wind dispersal.
The Moquinieae is yet another small Asteraceae tribe entirely restricted to South America, in eastern Brazil in the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest regions. They are shrubs and small trees with alternate, leathery leaves adapted to seasonally dry habitats. They have discoid capitula made of tubular bisexual florets and style branches with sweeping hairs common in the subfamily. The cypselae have numerous capillary bristles for wind dispersal.
Moquinia (1-2) and Pseudostifftia (1).
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Platycarpheae Tribe:
The Platycarpheae are a geographically restricted Asteraceae tribe found only in southern Africa. Members are perennial herbs with basal rosettes of broad, often spiny-margined leaves and solitary discoid capitula made of tubular bisexual florets and involucres made of numerous overlapping bracts. Cypselae have a persistent pappus of bristles.
Platycarpha (1), Platycarphella (2).
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Vernonieae Tribe:
The Vernonieae is the largest tribe in this Asteraceae subfamily. It has a major center of diversity in tropical Africa, with additional major centers in South America (especially Brazil), Madagascar, and tropical Asia. It can be found throughout the Americas, though diversity declines at higher latitudes. The tribe is composed mainly of perennial herbs, shrubs, and trees with the occasional vine, all with alternate leaves. They have discoid capitula made of tubular bisexual florets, usually in purple, pink, lavender, or white, and they have style branches with sweeping hairs to aid in pollen presentation. The cypselae are typically crowned with a capillary or scabrid pappus for wind dispersal. NOTE: Vernonieae has undergone one of the most extensive generic revisions in the Asteraceae. Historically, a large proportion of its species were placed in the broadly defined genus Vernonia. Modern morphological and molecular studies have demonstrated that the genus was polyphyletic in the Asteraceae, and new genera were split out among numerous Asteraceae subtribes, but here we leave it at the tribal level.
The Wunderlichioideae is one of the earliest diverging Asteraceae subfamilies, containing the Hyalideae and the Wunderlichieae tribes, but they are morphologically similar enough to treat at the subfamily level. The Wunderlichioideae has an interesting disjunct distribution from the Guiana Highlands and eastern Brazil to eastern Asia. It is a small subfamily of mostly shrubs and small trees with alternate leaves, with a few perennial herbs adapted to seasonally dry or montane environments. Members have discoid capitula made of tubular bisexual florets, glabrous style branches, and cypselae with a pappus of numerous bristles.
Fortunately, the Asteraceae are generally pretty easy to recognize at the family level because of their unique composite flower heads that come in radiate, discoid, or ligulate forms. This, combined with cypselae, is typically more than enough to identify a member of the Asteraceae. However, some other families have certain genera or species that do resemble the Asteraceae.
Apiaceae / carrot family is sometimes confused with Asteraceae because both can have many small flowers in a flat-topped or rounded cluster. Apiaceae flowers are arranged in umbels, while Asteraceae flowers are packed into capitula/head-like flower clusters.
Dipsacaceae / teasel family also sometimes resemble Asteraceae because they also have dense, head-like inflorescences. However, their flowers are not arranged in true composite heads with involucral bracts and cypselae in the same way.
Campanulaceae / bellflower family have some genera that may superficially resemble Asteraceae, which is unsurprising since both the Campanulaceae and Asteraceae are closely related as part of the Asterales order. However, Campanulaceae flowers are usually more clearly individual, often bell-shaped or tubular, and not arranged into true capitula.
Goodeniaceae is a small family that can resemble Asteraceae because some species have daisy-like heads or irregular petal arrangements. However, Goodeniaceae often have fan-shaped corollas and a distinctive pollen-presenting style cup called an indusium.
Calyceraceae is probably the closest lookalike family to the Asteraceae since it also has dense heads and an involucre, but it is a smaller South American family and lacks the classic combination of Asteraceae characters.
Caprifoliaceae also has some members, especially those formerly placed in Dipsacaceae, that may produce flowers that resemble Asteraceae heads. They differ in floral structure, fruit type, and the lack of true composite capitula.
Amaranthaceae is sometimes confused, especially with Ambrosia and other hay fever-type plants, but they can quickly be differentiated by their free stamens and fruits that lack a pappus.
Distribution of the Asteraceae
The Asteraceae are the most cosmopolitan plant family in the entire world. Asteraceae are common features in landscapes ranging from from sub-polar and high alpine regions to arid deserts and the tropics.
In the Americas, the Asteraceae can be found from Arctic Canada and Greenland south through to the southernmost point of South America, with several major subfamily and tribe centers of diversity in North, South, and Central America.
Distribution of the Asteraceae Family in the Americas
Canadian AsteraceaeGenera Include:
Canadian Asteraceae: Asteroideae Subfamily Genera:
Asteroideae Subfamily: Anthemideae Tribe in Canada: Achillea 7 spp. native throughout all of Canada, including the Arctic (and Greenland); Anthemis 2 spp. intro to BC, AB, YT, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, and NL (exc. Labrador); Arctanthemum 1 N temperate sp. native to BC, MB, ON, QC, YT, NT, and NU; Artemisia 28 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of Canada, including the Arctic (and Greenland), but intro in PE; Chrysanthemum 1 sp. intro and ephemeral ON; Cladanthus 1 sp. intro to BC; Cota 1 sp. intro BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, NL (exc. Labrador); Cotula 2 spp. intro to BC, QC, NB, NS, PE; Glebionis 2 spp. intro to ON, QC, NB, NS, and ephemeral PE and NL Is; Hulteniella 1 sp. native BC, YT, NT, NU, QC; Leucanthemella 1 sp. intro ON, QC; Leucanthemum 2 spp. intro all of Canada inc. Arctic; Matricaria 2 spp. native to BC and introduced to the rest of Canada, including. Arctic (and Greenland); Soliva 1 sp. introduced to BC; Tanacetum 4 spp. native to all of Canada, inc. Arctic, but introduced to Labrador, NS, PE; Tripleurospermum 2 spp. native to YT, NT, NU (& GL), MB, ON, QC, NL Island and introduced to Labrador, NB, NS, PE, BC, AB, SK.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Astereae Tribe in Canada: Almutaster monospecific NAM endemic sp. native to AB, SK, MB, NT; Aster 1 N temperate sp. native to BC, AB, YT, NT, ON, QC; Baccharis 1 sp. native to NS; Bellis 1 sp. intro to BC, NT, ON, QC, NB, NS, NL (exc. Labrador); Boltonia 1 sp. native to SK, MB; Canadanthus monospecific N NAM endemic sp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, YT, NT; Chrysothamnus 1 sp. of a mostly W NAM endemic genus native to BC; Dieteria 1 sp. W NAM endemic genus native to BC, AB, SK; Doellingeria 3 spp. former N NAM endemic genus native to all of S provinces exc. Labrador, 1 sp now intro Great Britain; Ericameria 2 spp. W+C NAM endemic genus native to BC, AB, SK; Erigeron 47 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of Canada inc. the Arctic (& Greenland); Eucephalus 1 sp. NW NAM endemic genus native to BC, AB (Canadensys considers it syn. of Doellingeria); Eurybia 9 spp. N temperate genus native to all of Canada, inc. the Arctic; Euthamia 3-4 spp. former NAM endemic genus native to all of S Canada exc. Labrador and inc. NT, 1 sp now introduced to Europe; Grindelia 4 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, NT, intro ON, QC; Gutierrezia 1 sp. native to AB, SK, MB; Heterotheca 1 sp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON; Ionactis 2 spp. NAM endemic genus native BC, QC, NB; Machaeranthera 1 sp. native to AB; Nestotus 1 sp. NAM endemic genus, endemic to YT; Oclemena 3 spp. native to ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL; Pityopsis 1 sp. intro to ON; Pyrrocoma 3 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, NT; Sericocarpus 1 sp. native to BC; Solidago 59 spp. native to all of Canada, inc. Arctic; Stenotus 1 sp. native to SK; Symphyotrichum 53 spp. native to all of Canada, including the Arctic: Tonestus 1 sp. NW NAM endemic genus native BC, AB; Townsendia 4 spp. native BC, AB, SK, MB, YT; Xanthisma (or Sideranthus now)3 spp. native AB, SK, MB, ON.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Bahieae Tribe in Canada: Hymenopappus 1 sp. NAM endemic genus native to AB, SK;Picradeniopsis 1 sp. intro. to AB and SK.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Chaenactideae Tribe in Canada: Chaenactis 1 sp. W NAM endemic genus native to BC, AB, SK.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Coreopsideae Tribe in Canada: Bidens 16 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to most of Canada, including the Arctic, but exc. Labrador; Coreopsis 6 spp. former Americas endemic genus native BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, NS, intro QC; Cosmos 1 sp. former Americas endemic genus intro ON, QC; Thelesperma 1 sp. native AB, SK.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Eupatorieae Tribe in Canada: Ageratina 1 sp. native to ON, QC, NB, NS; Brickellia 2 spp. native to BC, AB; Conoclinium 1 sp. ephemeral native to ON; Eupatorium 4 spp. subcosmopolitan genus native MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, intro to BC; Eutrochium 4 spp. NAM genus native to all S provinces, exc. Labrador; Liatris 9 spp. former NAM endemic genus native AB, SK, MB, ON, and intro to QC, NS; Mikania 1 sp. ephemeral ON.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Gnaphalieae Tribe in Canada: Anaphalis 1 sp. native to most of Canada, incl. Arctic, exc. NU; Antennaria 25 spp. mostly N temperate genus native to all of Canada, inc. the Arctic (& Greenland); Filago 2 spp. intro to BC and SK; Gamochaeta 2 spp. native to BC, extirpated ON; Gnaphalium 2 spp. cosmopolitan genus native BC, AB, SK, intro YT, NT, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL (exc. Labrador); Logfia 2 spp. intro BC, SK, ON; Omalotheca 3 spp. intro BC, native ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL (& GL); Pseudognaphalium 4 spp. native BC, AB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE; Psilocarphus 3 spp. native BC, AB, SK.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Helenieae Tribe in Canada: Gaillardia 2 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, intro YT, NT, ON, QC, and subcosmopolitan; Helenium 2 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NT, and intro to NS; Hymenoxys 1 sp. native AB, SK; Tetraneuris 2 spp. native to AB, SK, ON.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Heliantheae Tribe in Canada: Ambrosia 6 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, and QC and intro to NT, NB, NS, PE, NL, and ~cosmopolitan; Balsamorhiza 4 spp. NW NAM endemic genus native to BC, AB; Echinacea 3 spp. native to SK, MB, intro ON; Eclipta 1 sp. native to ON and intro cosmopolitan; Euphrosyne 1 sp. native to the southern provinces exc. All Atlantic provinces exc. NS (POWO, not in Canadensys); Helianthella 1 sp. native to BC; Helianthus 15 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, intro. to YT, PE, ephemeral NL Island; Heliopsis 1 sp. native to SK, MB, ON, QC, intro BC, NB, ephemeral NL Island; Iva 2 spp. native BC, AB, SK, MB, NS; Ratibida 2 spp. native BC, AB, SK, MB, ON; Rudbeckia 5 spp. native to SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, PE, and intro BC, AB, NB, NL Island; Silphium 4 spp. native ON intro QC; Verbesina 1 sp. native to ON; Wyethia 1 sp. W NAM endemic genus native to BC (POWO, Canadensys shows ephemeral BC); Xanthium 2 spp. native to all of S Canada, exc. NL, genus now intro cosmopolitan.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Inuleae Tribe in Canada: Dittrichia 1 sp. intro NB, NS; Inula 3 spp. intro. to BC, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE; Pentanema 1 sp. introQC and ON.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Madieae Tribe in Canada: Anisocarpus 1 sp. W NAM endemic genus native to BC; Arnica 18 spp. N temperate genus native to all of Canada, inc. the Arctic (& Greenland); Blepharipappus monospecific W NAM endemic sp native BC; Eriophyllum 1 sp. mostly W USA endemic genus native BC; Hemizonella monospecific W NAM endemic genus native BC; Lasthenia 2 spp. native BC; Layia 1 sp. native BC; Madia 5 spp. native to BC, and intro AB, SK, MB, ON, QC.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Millerieae Tribe in Canada: Acanthospermum 1 former neoendemic sp. intro ON; Galinsoga 2 spp. intro BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, and PE, and ephemeral NL Is.; Guizotia 1 sp. intro ephemeral ON.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Plucheeae Tribe in Canada: Pluchea 1 sp. intro ON.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Polymnieae Tribe in Canada: Polymnia 1 sp. native ON.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Senecioneae Tribe: Arnoglossum 1 sp. E NAM endemic genus native to ON; Cacaliopsis monospecific NW NAM endemic native to BC; Crocidium monospecific W NAM endemic native to BC;Erechtites 1 sp. native to ON, QC, NB, NS, PE; Jacobaea 1 sp. intro. BC, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL Island; Luina 1 sp. W NAM endemic genus native BC; Packera 21 spp. N temperate genus native to all of Canada, inc. the Arctic; Petasites 3 spp. N temperate genus native to all of Canada including the Arctic; Senecio 16 spp. native to all of Canada, inc. Arctic but intro PE (& Greenland); Tephroseris 5 spp. N temperate genus native to all of Canada, inc. the Arctic and Labrador but exc. other Atlantic provs; Tetradymia 1 sp. W NAM endemic genus native BC; Tussilago 1 sp. intro BC, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Tageteae Tribe: Dyssodia 1 sp. native ON & intro AB, SK, MB, QC, NB; Jaumea 1 sp. native BC, also in W USA and another species is disjunct in SE South America; Tagetes 2 spp. ephemeral intro to QC.
Canadian Carduoideae Subfamily Genera Include:
Carduoideae Subfamily: Cardueae Tribe: Amberboa 1 sp. intro BC; Arctium 5 spp. Eurasian intro to most of Canada exc. YT, NU, and Labrador; Carduus 4 spp. intro to all of S Canada exc. PE and Labrador, and ephemeral NL Is.; Carthamus 2 spp. intro to BC, AB, SK; Centaurea 15 spp. intro to all of S Canada exc. Labrador and inc. YT (& Greenland); Cirsium 18 spp. N hemisphere genus native to all of Canada, exc. NU where intro (& native Greenland); Echinops 2 spp. intro to BC, MB, ON, QC, and NB, and ephemeral SK; Onopordum 1 sp. intro to BC, ON, QC, NB, NS, MB, ephemeral NL Island; Rhaponticum 1 sp. intro BC, AB, SK, MB, ON;Saussurea 4 spp. N temperate genus native BC, AB, YT, NT, NU; Silybum 1 sp. intro BC, AB, ON, QC, NB, NS, ephemeral SK.
Canadian Asteraceae: Cichorioideae Subfamily Genera:
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Chondrillinae Subtribe: Chondrilla 1 sp. intro to BC and ON.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Cichoriinae Subtribe: Arnoseris monospecific intro to NB, NS, PE; Cichorium 2 spp. intro to all of S Canada.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Crepidinae Subtribe: Askellia 2 spp. N temperate genus native to BC, AB, MB, NL, YT, NT, NU, and intro ON; Crepis 12 spp. cosmopolitan genus native BC, AB, SK, MB, and intro to YT, NT, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, Labrador (& Greenland), and ephemeral intro on NL Is.; Lapsana 1 sp. intro. most of S provinces (& Greenland) exc. Labrador, ephemeral PE; Nabalus 8 spp. native to all the S provinces; Taraxacum 14 spp. native and intro to most of Canada inc. the Arctic (& Greenland), and intro in NB, NS, PE
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hieraciinae Subtribe: Hieracium 21 spp. native to most of Canada, inc. the Arctic (& Greenland), but exc. NU; Pilosella 7 spp. intro to all of the southern provinces.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hyoseridinae Subtribe: Sonchus 4 spp. intro to all of Canada inc. the Arctic (& Greenland), but ephemeral in Labrador.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hypochaeridinae Subtribe: Helminthotheca 1 species, is intro to BC, AB, SK, ON, NB, NS; Hypochaeris 2 spp. intro to BC, SK, ON, QC, NB, NS, NL Island; Leontodon 2 spp. intro BC, ON; Picris 1 sp. intro BC, ON, Labrador; Scorzoneroides 1 sp. intro BC, NT, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL (& Greenland).
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Lactucinae Subtribe: Lactuca 9 spp. native all of S provinces, intro YT, NT.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Microseridinae Subtribe: Agoseris 7 spp. native to most of Canada, inc. Arctic, exc. NU, NB, NS, PE, NL, and 1 sp. now intro to Sweden;Krigia 3 spp. native to MB, ON, and intro to BC; Lygodesmia 1 sp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB; Microseris 3 spp. native to BC, AB; Nothocalais 2 spp. native to BC, AB, SK, MB; Shinnersoseris monospecific C NAM endemic genus native AB, SK, MB; Stephanomeria 3 spp. native BC, AB, SK; Uropappus monospecific W NAM endemic genus native BC.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Scorzonerinae Subtribe: Tragopogon 7 spp. native ON, but intro to rest of Canada exc. NU and Labrador.
Canadian Asteraceae: Mutisioideae Subfamily Genera:
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Mutisieae Tribe: Adenocaulon 1 N NAM endemic sp. of an Americas and Asia genus native to BC, AB, ON.
Canadian Asteraceae: Vernonioideae Subfamily Genera:
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Vernonieae Tribe: Vernonia 3 spp. native to MB, ON, SK.
USA AsteraceaeGenera Include:
USA Asteraceae: Asteroideae Subfamily Genera:
Asteroideae Subfamily: Anthemideae Tribe: Achillea 8 spp. both native and introduced found throughout all of the USA, inc. AK, and intro to HI; Anacyclus 1 sp. intro to PA; Anthemis 6 spp. intro throughout the USA, inc. AK and HI; Arctanthemum 1 N temperate sp. native to AK; Argyranthemum 2 spp. intro to CA; Artemisia ~60 spp. (inc. former Sphaeromeria) cosmopolitan genus native and intro in all of the USA, including AK and HI; Chamaemelum 2 spp. intro to OR, CA, IA, IL, IN, OH, MI, PA, NJ, DE, NY, CT, NC, FL; Chrysanthemum 2 spp. intro CA, OH, PA, NY, MA, and native AK; Cladanthus 1 sp. intro to OR, NY, OH, PA, NJ, NC, FL; Cota 1 sp. intro to WA, OR, CA, ID, UT, WY, ND, SD, MN, IA, MO, AR, IL, IN, MI, OH, PA, VA, WV, MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, MA, RI, VT, NH, ME; Cotula 3 spp. intro to WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX, FL, NC, MA, ME, and AK and HI; Delwiensia monospecific narrow C USA endemic of CO, WY, NM; Glebionis 2 spp. intro OR, CA, AZ, CO, LA, AL, FL, SC, NC, VA, MD, OH, PA, NY, CT, MA, VT, ME and AK; Glyptopleura 2 spp. W USA endemic genus of OR, ID, CA, NV, UT, AZ; Heteranthemis 1 sp. intro CA; Hulteniella 1 sp. intro AK; Ismelia 1 sp. Intro CA; Lasiospermum 1 sp. intro CA; Leucanthemella 1 sp. intro to MN, WI, MI, NY, CT; Leucanthemum 4 spp. intro in all of USA, inc. AK and HI; Matricaria 4 spp. native and intro most of USA exc. AL, GA, FL, and intro AK; Nipponanthemum 1 sp. introduced in NY, CT, NJ; Oncosiphon 2 spp. intro OR, CA, AZ; Pentzia 1 sp. intro. in AZ, NM; Picrothamnus 1 sp. native W USA MT So to NM and all W exc. W, or may be syn. of Artemisia; Santolina 1 sp intro CA, LA, GA, SC, NC, MA; Soliva 2 spp. intro. to WA, OR, CA, AZ, TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, TN, VA, and HI; Tanacetum 7 spp. native and intro most of the USA inc. AK exc. TX, FL, GA, and introduced in HI; Tripleurospermum 2 spp. are native and intro to most of the USA and AK but exc. AZ, TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, FL, GA, SC, NC, TN, IN, VA, WV, VT.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Astereae Tribe: Acamptopappus 2 spp. SW USA endemic genus of CA, NV, UT, AZ; Adeia 2 spp. W USA endemic genus of OR and CA (POWO – not in USDA); Adiaphila monospecific SW USA endemic genus of CA and NV (POWO – not in USDA); Almutaster monospecific NAM endemic sp. native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, CO, WY, MT, ND, SD; Ampelaster monospecific SE USA endemic of MS, FL, GA, SC, NC;Amphiachyris 2 spp. S USA endemic genus of NM, TX (1 endemic), OK, NE, KS, IA, MO, AR, LA, MS, AL, SC, TN, KY, IL, IN, OH, PA, VA; Amphipappus monospecific SW USA endemic of CA, NV, UT, AZ; Aphanostephus 5 spp. S NAM endemic genus native AZ, NM, TX, OK, KS, AR, LA, FL, inc. 1 sp. endemic to OK + TX, but one species now intro Puerto Rico; Aster 2 spp., including 1 native to ID, WY, CO, and AK, and 1 intro to CO, IA, IL, MI, OH, PA, NJ, CT, RI, MA, KY, TN, WV, VA, DE, NC, SC, GA, AL; Astranthium 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to KS, OK, TX, MO, AR, KY, TN, WV, NC, MS, AL, GA, inc. 1 sp. endemic to SE USA; Baccharis 22 spp. native to S USA from CA E to NJ exc. MO, IL, KY, IN, OH, WV and inc. OR, NY, CT, RI, MA; Bellis 1 sp. intro WA, CA, OR, ID, MT, UT, ND, MN, and NE states from WI S to TN and all E of that plus AK and HI; Benitoa monospecificendemic of CA; Bigelowia 2 spp. SE USA endemic genus of TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC; Boltonia 6 spp. former NAM endemic genus native to most of E USA from ND S to TX and all E exc WV, NH, and OR and ID, includes 4 spp. endemic to the USA; Bradburia 2 spp. SE USA endemic genus of KA, OK, TX, MO, AR, LA, TN, MS; Brintonia monospecific SE USA endemic genus of LA, MS, AL, GA, FL; Callistephus 1 sp. intro WI, MI, PA, NY, CT, ME; Calotis 1 sp. intro MA; Canadanthus monospecific N NAM endemic sp. native to WA, OR, ID, MT, MN, MI, and AK; Chaetopappa 8 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, WY, CO, NM, NE, KS, OK, TX, MO, AR, LA, SC, inc. 4 spp. endemic to USA, 3 of which are narrow endemics of TX; Chloracantha monospecific S NAM + CAM endemic sp. native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX, OK, LA; Chrysoma monospecific SE USA endemic of MS, AL, GA, SC, NC, FL; Chrysopsis 10 spp. S+E USA endemic genus of KS, OK, TX, MO, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, WV, TN, KY, OH, PA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, RI; Chrysothamnus 9 spp. of mostly W NAM endemic genus native to most of the W USA from ND S to TX and all W exc. ND, SD, inc. 7 spp. endemic to W USA and 1 sp. now intro to Dominican Republic; Columbiadoria monospecific, narrow NW USA endemic of WA, OR; Corethrogyne monospecific W NAM endemic sp. native OR, CA; Croptilon 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native KS, OK, TX, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, inc. 2 spp. endemic to S USA which inc. 1 narrow endemic of TX; Cuniculotinus monospecific narrow endemic of CA, NV; Dichaetophora monospecific S NAM endemic sp. native to TX; Dieteria 4 spp. W NAM endemic genus native to W USA from ND S to TX and all W exc. OK, inc. 2 spp. endemic to W + C USA; Doellingeria 3 spp. former N NAM endemic genus native to most of the E USA from ND S to TX and all E exc. KS, 1 species now intro to Great Britain; Eastwoodia monospecific narrow endemic of CA; Egletes 1 sp. native to TX; Ericameria 33 spp. W+C NAM endemic genus native in all of W USA from ND S to TX and all W plus WV, most of which are endemic to W USA; Erigeron 179 spp. cosmopolitan genus native and intro in all of USA, native in AK and intro to HI; Eucephalus 10 spp. NW NAM endemic genus native to WA, OR, CA, NV, ID, MT, WY, CO; Eurybia 26 spp. N temperate genus native in most of the USA, inc. AK, but exc. ND, NE; Euthamia 13 spp. former NAM endemic genus native in all of USA, inc. 9 endemic to USA with one being a narrow endemic of OK, 1 sp. also now intro Europe; Grindelia 28 spp. native to most of the USA exc. FL, GA, SC, NC, WV; Gutierrezia 10 spp. native to W USA from MN S to LA and all W exc. IA and inc. IL, OH, SC, NY; Gymnosperma monospecific S NAM + Guatemala endemic sp. native to AZ, NM, TX; Hazardia 7 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native OR, CA, NV, inc. 4 narrow endemics of CA (3), CA + NV (1); Helodeaster 3 spp. Narrow endemic genus of HI; Heterotheca ~40 spp. native to most of the USA except WV, RI, MA, VT, NH, and ME and introduced to HI, includes several endemics, especially in CA; Ionactis 5-6 spp. NAM endemic genus native to much of the USA exc. AZ, CO, ND, SD, NE, MI, includes 4 endemics; Isocoma 10 spp. native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, includes 3 endemics; Laennecia 6 spp. native to CA, NV, AZ, UT, CO, NM, TX; Lessingia 12 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native, including 10 endemics of CA, NV, AZ; Leucosyris 7 spp. native to CA, NV, UT, CO, AZ, NM, and TX; Lorandersonia 6 spp. S-C NAM endemic genus native to MT, WY, UT, AZ, CO, NM, KS, OK, and TX, including 4 narrow endemics; Machaeranthera 2 spp. NAM endemic genus native to most of W USA from SD S to TX and all W except for WA, OR, and ID; Medranoa 1 sp. nativeto TX, mostly Mexico genus; Monoptilon 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, includes 1 endemic; Nestotus 2 spp. NAM endemic genus native and endemic to WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, MT; Oclemena 3 spp. native to E USA from MI S to AL and all states E exc IN;Oonopsis 6 spp. Narrow US endemic of MT, WY, CO, SD, NE, KS; Oreochrysum monospecific S-C NAM endemic native to NV, UT, AZ, WY, CO, NM; Oreostemma 3 spp. W USA endemic genus native to WA, OR, CA, NV, ID, MT, WY; Pentachaeta 6 spp., inc. 5 endemics native to CA; Petradoria monospecific endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, ID, WY, CO, and NM; Pityopsis 7 spp. native to OK, TX, AR, LA, AL, MS, GA, FL, SC, NC, TN, KY, VA, WV, MD, DE, OH, NJ, NY, CT, RI, and MA, including several endemics; Psilactis 5 spp. native to AZ, NM, and TX, including 1 endemic; Pyrrocoma 15 spp. native to W USA from MT S to NM and all W plus ND; Rayjacksonia 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to WY, CO, NM, NE, KS, OK, TX, LA, and FL, including 2 endemics; Remya 3 spp. endemic genus of HI; Rigiopappus monospecific W USA endemic of WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, UT; Sericocarpus 5-6 spp. native WA, OR, CA, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, KY, TN, IN, OH, MI, WV, MD, DE, PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH, ME, including 4-5 endemics; Solidago 75 spp. native to all of USA, including AK, and intro in HI; Stenotus 3 spp. W NAM endemic genus native to W USA MT S to NM and all W plus ND, SD, NE, KS; Symphyotrichum 87 spp. native to all of the USA, inc. AK, and intro in HI; Tetramolopium 11 spp. native to HI; Thurovia monospecific narrow endemic genus of TX; Toiyabea 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of CA and NV; Tonestus 2 spp. native W USA MT S to NM and all W exc. AZ and UT; Townsendia 27 spp. native in W USA ND S to TX and all W, inc. AK; Tracyina monospecific narrow endemic of CA; Tripolium 1 sp. intro. to PA, NY; Xanthisma (or Sideranthus now)1 sp. native AZ, NM, TX, OK; Xanthocephalum 1 sp. native AZ, TX; Xylorhiza 8 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, MT, WY, CO, TX, SD, mostly endemic; Xylothamia 1-2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native TX.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Bahieae Tribe: Bahia 6 spp. native and intro CA, NV, UT, AZ, WY, CO, NM, TX, MD, POWO says syn. of Eriophyllum; Bartlettia monospecific S NAM endemic sp. native NM, TX; Chamaechaenactis monospecific S-C USA endemic sp. of WY, CO, NM, UT, AZ; Florestina 1 former NAM + CAM endemic spp. native to TX, introduced to HI; Hymenopappus 10 spp. native to all W USA ND S to TX and all W plus MO, AR, LA, MS, Al, GA, SC, FL, IL, IN;Hymenothrix 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, AZ, NM, TX; Palafoxia 10 spp native CA E to MO and all states S plus WY MS, GA, FL, MA and intro HI; Peucephyllum monospecific SW NAM endemic native to CA, NV, UT, AZ;Picradeniopsis 2 spp. native to MT S to NM and ND S to TX plus AZ; Platyschkuhria monospecific endemic of MT, WY, CO, NM, UT, AZ; Psathyrotopsis 1 sp. native to NM, TX; Schkuhria 2 spp. native and intro CA, AZ, CO, NM, TX, MD, MA.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Calenduleae Tribe: Calendula 2 spp. intro WA, CA, WI, MI, OH, PA, NY, CT, MA, NH, ME; Dimorphotheca 4 spp. intro OR, CA, AZ; Osteospermum 3 spp. intro to CA, NM, and HI;
Asteroideae Subfamily: Chaenactideae Tribe: Chaenactis 18 W NAM endemic spp. native to W USA from MT S to NM and all W plus ND, SD, NY, and MA, including 9 spp. endemic to W USA, 5 of which are narrow endemics of CA (2), WA (1), ID (1), OR (1); Dimeresia monospecific W USA endemic sp of OR, ID, CA, NV; Orochaenactis monospecific narrow endemic of CA.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Coreopsideae Tribe: Bidens 48 spp. of cosmopolitan genus native and intro in all of the USA, Inc. AK and HI; Coreocarpus 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native AZ; Coreopsis 34 spp. former Americas endemic genus native to most of the USA exc. NV and UT, and intro HI; Cosmos 4 spp. former Americas endemic genus native and intro to much of the USA exc. OR, WA, ID, NV, MT, ND, SD, NE, IA, IN, MS, VT; Dahlia 1 sp. intro to MS, NC; Dicranocarpus monospecific SE NAM endemic genus native to NM, TX; Fitchia 1 sp. S-C Pacific Is. genus now intro HI; Heterosperma 1 sp. native to AZ, NM, CO, TX, MD, MA; Thelesperma 12 spp. native to W USA MN S to LA and all W exc IA, WA, ID, and inc IL, MS, MI, IN.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Doroniceae Tribe: Doronicum 2 spp. introduced in WA, OR, and MA.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Eupatorieae Tribe: Adenostemma 1 sp. pantropical genus native to HI; Ageratina 14 spp. former Americas endemic genusnative and introduced to most of the USA, except WY, and introduced to HI; Ageratum 4 spp. former Americas endemic genus native to AZ, NM, TX, and FL, and now introduced to CA, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, NC, MO, KY, MD, CT, MA, and HI; Asanthus 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to AZ, NM; Brickellia 34 spp. native in all of the USA exc. NY, CT, MA, VT, NH, ME; Brickelliastrum 1 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to AZ, NM, TX;Carminatia 1 sp. S NAM & Mesoamerica genus native to AZ, NM, TX; Carphephorus 8 spp. SE USA endemic genus of LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA; Carphochaete 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to AZ, NM, TX; Chromolaena 4 spp. Americas genus native AZ, TX, LA, MS, and FL; Condylidium 1 sp. neoendemic native FL; Conoclinium 3 spp. native S and E USA AZ E to NC and all S plus NE and KS E to NJ and NY exc IA and inc MI; Eupatorium 26 spp. subcosmopolitan genus native in E USA from ND S to TX and all E; Eutrochium 5 spp. NAM genus native to most of USA exc OR, CA, NV; Fleischmannia 3 spp. native to S USA from AZ E to NC and all S plus MO, IL, IN, KY, OH, WV, VA; Flyriella 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native TX; Garberia monospecific narrow endemic sp. of FL; Hartwrightia monospecific narrow endemic of FL, GA; Isocarpha 1 sp. intro/native to TX; Koanophyllon 2 spp. native to AZ, NM, TX, FL; Liatris 42 spp. native to E USA from MT S to NM and all states E exc. VT where it’s intro, most are endemic to the E USA, but now intro to Europe; Malperia monospecific SW NAM endemic genus native CA; Mikania 3 spp. are native and introduced to much of E USA from MN S to LA, exc. MN, IA, WI, WV, VT and inc. OK, TX; Pleurocoronis 1 sp. SW NAM endemic genus native CA, NV, UT, AZ; Praxelis 1 sp. intro to FL; Sclerolepis monospecific E USA endemic of LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, RI, MA, NH; Shinnersia monospecific narrow endemic genus of TX and NE Mexico; Stevia 7 spp. native to AZ, NM, TX; Tamaulipa monospecific S NAM endemic native to TX; Trichocoronis 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to CA, TX; Trilisa 3 spp. SE USA endemic from LA E to FL and N to NC.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Gnaphalieae Tribe: Anaphalis 1 sp. native to most of the USA, inc. AK, but exc. ND, OK, LA, AR, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL; Ancistrocarphus 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native OR, ID, CA, NV, inc 1 endemic to CA; Antennaria 37 spp. mostly N temperate genus native in N USA from OR E to NJ and all states N plus CA, CO, TN, KY, NC, VA, WV, MD, DE (POWO SAYS ALL USA), inc multiple species endemic to USA; Diaperia 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to CA, MT, WY, CO, NM, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, inc. 2 endemic to S USA; Euchiton 4 spp. intro to OR, CA, MA and HI; Facelis 1 species native to TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA; Filago 2 spp. intro. to WA, OR, CA, AL, GA, SC, NC, VA, KY, OH, WV, MD, DE, PA, NJ, NY, MA; Gamochaeta 9 spp. native and intro. to much of the USA exc. ID, NV, UT, WY, CO, ND, SD, NE, MN, VT, NH and intro HI and subcosmopolitan; Gnaphalium 3 spp. cosmopolitan genus native and intro to much of the USA exc. the SE from TX and OK E to NC and FL, also exc. IA, MO, and intro AK; Helichrysum 2 spp. intro CA and HI; Hesperevax 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of OR, CA; Logfia 2 spp. intro to WA, OR, CA, PA, and NY; Micropsis 1 sp. intro to TX; Micropus 2 spp. native to WA, OR, CA (1 narrow endemic), 3rd in genus is native to the Mediterranean; Omalotheca 2 spp. native to WI, MI, PA, NY, VT, NH, ME; Plecostachys 1 sp. intro CA; Pseudognaphalium 19 spp. native and intro in most of the USA, inc. HI but exc. ND; Psilocarphus 4 spp. native to WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, ID, MT, WY, inc. 1 W USA endemic; Rhodanthe 1 sp. intro CA; Stylocline 5-7 spp. native to OR, CA, ID, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX; Xerochrysum 1 sp. intro to MA, CT.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Helenieae Tribe: Amblyolepis monospecific S NAM endemic sp. native to TX; Baileya 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX; Balduina 3 spp. SE USA endemic genus of LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC; Gaillardia 12 spp. native and intro to most of the USA exc. KY, WV, MD, and intro HI and AK, inc. 3 narrow endemics of AZ + UT (1), UT + CO (1), TX (1), now intro subcosmopolitan; Helenium 19 spp. native throughout all of the USA, exc. SD; Hymenoxys 18 spp. native and intro OR, CA, NV, UT, AZ, ID, MT, WY, CO, NM, ND, KS, OK, TX, AL, ME; Marshallia 8 spp. SE USA endemic genus from KS S to TX and E to MD S to FL exc IL, IN, OH, DE and inc PA; Ovicula monospecific narrow endemic genus of TX; Plateilema monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to TX; Psathyrotes 3 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, ID, UT, AZ, inc. 2 endemic to SW USA; Psilostrophe 5 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native ID, CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, KS, OK, TX, inc. 3 endemic to the SW USA; Tetraneuris 8 spp. NAM endemic genus native to W USA ND S to TX and all W exc WA, OR and inc AR, IL, MI, OH; Trichoptilium monospecific SW NAM endemic native to CA, NV, AZ.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Heliantheae Tribe: Acmella 4 spp. mostly pantropical genus native and intro TX, OK, LA, AR, MO, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, NJ; Agnorhiza 5 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to CA, inc. 4 narrow endemics of CA, 5th is also in Baja California Norte Mexico; Aldama 1 sp. native to AZ, NM, TX; Ambrosia 24 spp. mostly native, some intro to all of the USA, native in AK and intro to HI, now intro cosmopolitan; Bahiopsis 3 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native CA, NV, AZ, inc. 1 endemic; Balsamorhiza 11 spp. NW NAM endemic genus native WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, WY, CO, ND, SD, inc. 7 spp. endemic to W USA; Baltimora 1 sp. intro to HI; Berlandiera 9 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to AZ, NM, CO, KS, OK, TX, MO, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, inc. 6 endemic to the USA which inc. 2 narrow endemics of FL; Borrichia 2 spp. native to TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, MD; Calyptocarpus 2 spp. inc. 1 native to TX and 1 intro to AZ, NM, TX, OK, AR, LA, IL, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, and HI; Chrysogonum 1-3 spp. mostly Madagascar genus native to LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, TN, KY, VA, WV, MD, OH, PA, NY; Dicoria 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM; Echinacea 9 spp. native to most of the USA from MT S to NM and IL E, exc. DE, RI, NH, VT, inc. 5 spp. endemic to USA inc. 1 narrow endemic of TN (1); Eclipta 1 sp. native to much of the USA exc. WA, OR, ID, NV, MT, WY, CO, ND, CT, RI, VT, NH, and ME, and intro HI and cosmopolitan; Encelia 8 spp. native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, and TX, and intro to HI, inc. 3 endemic to SW USA; Enceliopsis 3 spp. W USA endemic genus of ID, CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO; Engelmannia monospecific S NAM endemic of AZ, NM, TX, OK, KS, NE, SD, MO, AR; Euphrosyne 3 spp. native to CA, NV, UT, NM, AZ, CO, TX, inc. 2 endemics; Flourensia 2 spp. native to AZ, NM, TX; Geraea 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native CA, NV, UT, AZ; Hedosyne monospecific S NAM endemic genera native AZ, NM, TX; Helianthella 6 spp. E NAM endemic genus native to W USA from MT S to NM and all W plus SD, inc. 3-4 endemics; Helianthus 54 spp. native to all of the USA and introduced into AK and HI, includes numerous endemics as most of the genus is concentrated here, but now intro cosmopolitan; Heliomeris 4-5 spp. S NAM genus native to CA, NV, ID, MT, WY, CO, UT, AZ, NM, TX, NY; Heliopsis 2 spp. native to all of E USA from ND S to TX and all E plus WA, CO, AZ, NM; Iva 10 spp. native and intro to most of the USA exc. VT, includes several endemics; Jefea 1 sp. native NM, TX; Lagascea 2 spp. native and intro AZ, FL; Lasianthaea 1 sp. native to AZ, NM; Lindheimera monospecific SC NAM endemic genus native OK, TX, AR, LA; Lipochaeta 20 spp. narrow endemic genus of HI; Melanthera 3-4 spp. native to IL, KY, TN, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL (1 endemic), and HI; Montanoa 1 sp. intro to HI; Parthenice monospecific S NAM endemic native to AZ; Parthenium ~7-10 spp. Native to most of the USA exc. the Pacific states and NW quarter; Pascalia 1 sp. intro to AL, GA, FL;Phoebanthus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of AL, FL; Ratibida 4 spp. native to most of the USA exc WA, OR, NV, MD, DE, RI, NH, ME; Rudbeckia 21-31 spp. native all of USA and intro AK; Sanvitalia 3 spp. native and intro CA, NV, AZ, NM, TX, IL, MD, VT; Scabrethia monospecific W USA endemic genus of WY, CO, NM, UT, AZ; Sclerocarpus 1 sp. native to TX; Sidneya 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to NM and TX; Silphium 22 spp. native, inc. 19 endemic to the E USA from MT S to NM and all E exc. MT, DE, RI, NH; Simsia 2 spp. native AZ, NM, TX, and intro MD;Sphagneticola 1 sp. intro LA, FL, and HI; Synedrella monospecific intro. to FL, HI, and WA; Tithonia 3 spp. native and intro in AZ (native), TX, LA, FL, and HI; Verbesina 16 spp. native to most of the USA exc. WA, OR, ID, MN, CT, VT, NH, and ME, and intro HI and subcosmopolitan; Viguiera 8 spp. native to CA, NV, AZ, NM, TX (genus has been reduced and numbers may not be correct); Wedelia 3 spp. native to TX and intro AL; Wyethia 9 spp. W NAM endemic genus native to W USA from MT S to NM and all W, plus ND and SD, most endemic to the USA (1 sp. ranges into W Canada); Xanthium 3 spp. native and intro all of USA, intro HI, and now cosmopolitan; Zaluzania 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to AZ, NM; Zinnia 7 spp. native and intro UT, AZ, CO, NM, KS, OK, TX, LA, MS, GA, FL, SC, NC, KY, OH, PA, and CT, and intro HI.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Inuleae Tribe: Blumea 3 spp. intro FL and HI; Dittrichia 2 spp. intro to CA, FL, PA, NJ, CT, NY; Inula 3 spp. intro to WA, OR, CA, UT, and MN S to MO and all E of those plus TN, VA; Pallenis 1 sp. intro to CA; Pentanema 1 sp. intro GA, MA, NY; Pterocaulon 2 spp. native TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, inc. 1 SE USA endemic; Pulicaria 3 spp. introduced to CA, AZ, FL, MD; Sachsia 1 sp. Caribbean endemic genus native FL.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Madieae Tribe: Achyrachaena monospecific SW NAM endemic native OR, CA; Amblyopappus monospecific W. American endemic sp. native to CA, also in Baja CA Mexico and disjunct in Chile; Anisocarpus 2 spp. W NAM endemic genus native to WA, OR, and CA (1 narrow endemic); Argyroxiphium 5 spp. narrow endemic genus of HI; Arnica 27 spp. N temperate genus native to much of USA inc. AK but exc NE, KS, TX, IA S to LA, WI S to LA, IN, OH, KY, TN, WV, CT, RI, MA, includes many endemics as the center of diversity for the genus; Blepharipappus monospecific W NAM endemic sp. native to WA, OR, ID, NV, CA, may be W USA endemic as Canadensys lists it as ephemeral in British Columbia; Blepharizonia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of CA; Calycadenia 10 spp. W USA endemic genus of OR, CA, NV; Carlquistia monospecific narrow endemic of CA; Centromadia 3 spp. former W NAM endemic genus native to WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, and AZ, inc. 2 endemic to W USA and 1 sp. now intro to NY and Europe; Constancea monospecific narrow endemic of CA; Deinandra 16 spp. former SW NAM endemic genus native to CA, AZ, inc. 11 narrow endemics of CA and 1 sp. now intro MA and W Europe; Dubautia 27 spp. narrow endemic genus of HI; Eatonella monospecific W USA endemic of WA, OR, ID, CA, NV; Eriophyllum 13 spp. mostly W USA endemic genus native to WA, OR, CA (7 endemics), NV, AZ, UT, ID, MT, and WY, inc. 9 spp. endemic to W USA; Harmonia 5 spp. narrow endemic genus of CA; Hemizonella monospecific W NAM endemic genus of WA, OR, CA, NV, ID, MT; Hemizonia monospecific endemic genus of OR, CA; Holocarpha 4 spp. native to CA (3 endemics); Holozonia monospecific narrow endemic of CA; Hulsea 7 spp. native to WA, OR, CA (1 narrow endemic), NV, UT, AZ, ID, MT, WY, 4 of which are endemic to the USA; Jensia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of CA; Kyhosia monospecific endemic of OR, CA, and NV; Lagophylla 5 spp. W USA endemic genus to WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, NV, UT; Lasthenia 17 spp. mostly W USA endemic native to WA, OR, CA, AZ, NM, MA; Layia 14 spp. native, inc. 12 endemics of WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, UT, AZ, NM, MA; Madia 11 spp. native to W USA from ND S to TX and all W exc. NE, KS, OK, and inc. MN, IA, WI, MI, IN, PA, MD, DE, NY, CT, MA, VT, ME, NC, AL, GA, FL and native and intro AK and intro HI; Monolopia 5 spp. narrow endemic genus CA; Osmadenia monospecific SW NAM endemic genus of CA and NW Mexico; Pseudobahia 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of CA; Raillardella 3 spp. W USA endemic of OR, CA, NV; Syntrichopappus 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus of CA (1 endemic), NV, UT, AZ, and NW Mexico; Venegasia monospecific SW NAM endemic of CA and NW Mexico; Wilkesia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of HI.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Millerieae Tribe: Acanthospermum 3 spp. former neoendemics intro to OR, TX, LA, AR, MS, AL, GA, FL, TN, SC, NC, VA, PA, NJ, NY, MA, and HI; Bebbia monospecific S NAM endemic native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX; Cymophora 1 sp. intro MD; Galinsoga 3 spp. inc. 2 native to TX and 1 sp. intro to most of USA inc. HI but exc. ID, NV, UT, MS; Guardiola 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to AZ; Guizotia 1 sp. intro to CA, KS, WI, IL, MI, OH, TN, VA, MD, PA, NJ, NY, CT, MA; Jaegeria 1 sp. intro. AZ; Melampodium 6 spp. native and intro CA, AZ, CO, NM, KS, OK, TX, FL, MD; Sigesbeckia 1 sp. intro IL, MA, and HI; Smallanthus 1 sp. native SE USA from KS S to TX and E to NJ S to Fl plus MI, NY; Tetragonotheca 4 spp. native, inc 3 SE USA endemics of TX (1 endemic), LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, TN, and VA; Tridax 1 sp. intro FL and HI.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Perityleae Tribe: Pericome 1 sp. native to CA, NV, AZ, CO, NM, OK, TX; Perityle 2-35 spp. (depending on the definition of genus) native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Plucheeae Tribe: Pluchea 10 spp. native to S USA from CA E to NJ and all S exc. CO and inc. WI, MI, NY, CT, RI, MA, NH, ME, and intro HI.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Polymnieae Tribe: Polymnia 4 spp. E NAM endemic genus native to most of the E USA from MN S to LA, exc. LA, MS, SC, DE, NJ, RI, MA, NH, and ME, and inc. KS and OK.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Senecioneae Tribe: Arnoglossum 8 spp. E NAM endemic genus native, inc. 7 endemics, to most of E USA from ND S to TX and all E exc. ND, CT, RI, VT, NH, ME; Barkleyanthus monospecific genus native in AZ, NM, TX; Blennosperma 2 spp. narrow endemic to CA, 3rd spp. endemic to C Chile;Cacaliopsis monospecific NW NAM endemic native to WA, OR, CA; Crassocephalum 1 sp. intro to FL and HI; Crocidium monospecific W NAM endemic native to WA, OR, CA; Delairea 1 sp. intro OR, MT, CA, and HI; Emilia 3 spp. pantropical genus native to TX, LA, FL and intro to CA, GA, SC, OH, and HI; Erechtites 4 spp. native to E USA from SD S to TX and all E, plus intro WA and HI; Euryops 2 spp. intro AZ and FL; Gynura 1 sp. intro FL; Hasteola 2 spp. endemic to the E USA in MN, IA, MO, WI, IL, IN, OH, PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, ME, KY, TN, WV, VA, MD, NC, GA, FL (1 narrow endemic), other species in genus is endemic to Japan and Kuril Is.; Jacobaea 1 sp. intro. WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, CA, MI, IL, PA, NY, MA; Lepidospartum 3 spp. native, inc. 2 endemics, of CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX; Ligularia 1 sp. intro MD; Luina 2 spp. W NAM endemic genus native WA, OR, CA, inc. 1 narrow endemic restricted to serpentine soils in OR; Packera 57 spp. native in all of the USA, inc. AK, inc. many endemics; Parasenecio 1 sp. native AK; AK; Pericallis 1 sp. intro CA; Petasites 3 spp. N temperate genus native and intro WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, WY, CO, ND, SD, MN, WI, IL, MI, OH, WV, PA, DE, NJ, NY, CT, MA, VT, NH, ME, and native AK, and intro HI; Psacalium 1 sp. mostly Mexican genus native to AZ, NM; Pseudogynoxys 1 sp. intro TX, FL, and HI; Rainiera monospecific endemic of WA and OR; Roldana 1 sp. mostly Mexican genus native AZ, TX; Rugelia monospecific narrow endemic of TN, NC; Senecio 61 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to W USA from ND S to TX and all W, plus AK and intro in the E and HI; Tephroseris 4 spp. N temperate genus native to MT, WY, and AK; Tetradymia 10 spp. native (most endemic) to W USA from MT S to NM and all W; Tussilago 1 sp. intro to WA, MN, WI, S to TN, and all states E of those; Yermo monospecific narrow endemic of WY.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Tageteae Tribe: Adenophyllum 4 spp. native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, inc. 1 endemic to SW USA; Chrysactinia 1 sp. native NM, TX, most of S NAM endemic genus is Mexican; Clappia monospecific S NAM endemic sp. native to NM, TX; Dysodiopsis monospecific narrow S USA endemic of OK, TX; Dyssodia 1 sp. native to much of the USA exc. WA, OR, ID, MS, AL, GA, FL, NC, VA, DE, NJ, CT, RI, NH; Flaveria 8 spp. native to CA, UT, AZ (1 endemic), CO, NM, KS, OK, TX (1), MO, AL, GA, FL (1), SC, VA, MD, MA and intro. to HI, and an additional widespread endemic (4 total); Haploesthes 1 sp. S-C NAM endemic genus native to CO, NM, KS, OK, TX; Jamesianthus monospecific narrow endemic genus of AL and GA; Jaumea 1 sp. native to WA, OR, CA, also in Canada and another species disjunct in South America; Nicolletia 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native CA, NM, TX; Pectis 13 spp. native CA, NV, UT, AZ (1 endangered rare endemic), WY, CO, NM, NE, KS, OK, TX, LA, GA, and FL (1 endemic), and intro HI; Porophyllum 5 spp. native to CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX; Pseudoclappia 2 spp. native to NM, TX (1 endemic), OK; Sartwellia 1 sp. native to NM, TX, with rest of genus is NE Mexico; Tagetes 7 spp. native to AZ, NM, and TX and intro CA, MT, WY, UT, OK, MO, AR, LA, WI, IL, KY, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, MD, OH, PA, NJ, NY, CT, MA, VT, and HI; Thymophylla 7-8 spp. native CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, KS, TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, SC, MA; Varilla 2 spp. native to NE Mexico (1 endemic).
USA Asteraceae: Carduoideae SubfamilyGenera:
Carduoideae Subfamily: Cardueae Tribe: Amberboa 1 sp. intro to CA, UT, IA, IL, IN, ME; Arctium 4 spp. Eurasian intro to all of the USA, inc. HI but exc. FL; Carduus 6 spp. intro in most of the USA, exc. FL and inc. HI; Carlina 1 sp. intro NJ, NY; Carthamus 4 spp. intro to most of the W USA from ND S to TX and all W exc. NV, SD and inc. IA, IL, OH, SC, MA; Centaurea 33 spp. intro in all of the USA and HI and AK; Cirsium 88 spp. mostly native, many endemic, and some intro in all of USA and AK and intro HI; Crupina 1 sp. intro to WA, OR, ID, CA, MA; Cynara 2 spp. intro to WA, OR, CA, AZ; Echinops 3 spp. intro to WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, WY, CO, MN, IA, WI, IL, IN, KY, VA, WV, MI, MD, PA, NY, CT, MA, VT, NH, ME; Mantisalca 1 sp. intro to CA, AZ; Onopordum 3 spp. intro to much of the USA exc. ND, SD, AR, LA, MS, TN, GA, SC, NC, NH, ME; Phonus 1 sp. intro OR, CA, AZ, OK, TX, MA, NJ (POWO not in USDA); Plectocephalus 2 spp. nativeto AZ, NM, TX, OK, KS, MO, AR, and LA and intro WI (POWO not in USDA); Saussurea 7 spp. north temperate genus native WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, WY, CO, and AK; Serratula 1 sp. intro NY, CT; Silybum 1 sp. intro WA, OR, CA, NV, AZ, CO, NM, OK, TX, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, TN, VA, WV, MD, IN, MI, OH, PA, NY, CT, MA, and NH; Volutaria 1 sp. intro to CA; Xeranthemum 1 sp. intro to MT (POWO not in USDA).
USA Asteraceae: Cichorioideae SubfamilyGenera:
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Chondrillinae Subtribe: Chondrilla 1 sp. intro to WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, WY, MI, IN, GA, VA, WV, MD, DE, NJ, PA, and NY.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Cichoriinae Subtribe: Arnoseris monospecific intro MI, OH, PA, NY, NH, ME; Cichorium 2 spp. intro in all of the continental USA; Phalacroseris monospecific narrow endemic of the subalpine Sierra Nevadas in CA; Tolpis 1 sp. intro CA.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Crepidinae Subtribe: Askellia 2 spp. N temperate genus native to WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, MT, WY, CO, UT, and AK; Crepis 23 spp. native to W USA and intro to E USA, AK, and HI; Ixeris 1 sp. intro to PA, NJ, DE, NY; Lapsana 1 sp. intro to much of the USA and AK, HI, but exc. NV, NM, WY, SD, NE, KS, LA, MS, AL, FL, SC, DE, NH; Lapsanastrum 1 sp. intro OR; Nabalus 8 spp. native throughout exc. the SW states of CA, NV, UT, AZ, and NM, inc. 4 endemics (inc. former Prenanthes); Rhagadiolus 1 sp. intro CA; Taraxacum 9 spp. intro and native in all of USA, inc. AK, intro HI; Youngia 2 spp. intro TX, LA, AR, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, TN, KY, VA, OH, MD, PA, NY, and HI.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hieraciinae Subtribe: Hieracium 50 spp. mostly native some intro in all of USA and AK; Pilosella 3-7 spp. intro to the Pacific states, the eastern states from MN S to AR, and all states E plus GA, FL, ID, MT, WY, CO, and SD (POWO not in USDA).
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hyoseridinae Subtribe: Launaea 1 sp. intro to TX, FL; Reichardia 2 spp. intro NJ and HI; Sonchus 4 spp. intro all of USA, inc. AK and HI.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hypochaeridinae Subtribe: Hedypnois 1 sp. into CA, AZ, NM, TX; Helminthotheca 1 species intro to OR, CA, AZ, MT, ND, IA, MO, MA, NY, PA, NJ, VT, OH, NY, and VA; Hypochaeris 4 spp. introduced to much of the USA, inc. AK and HI, but exc. AZ, WY, ND, SD, NE, KS, OK, MN, IA; Leontodon 4 spp. intro to much of the USA, including AK and HI, but exc. UT, WY, CO, ND, SD, NE, OK, MO, AR, LA, MS, FL, GA, SC, KY; Picris 2 spp. intro IA, MO, IL, MI, OH, PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, VT, ME, KY, TN, AL, NC, VA, MD, AK, and HI (USDA said native and intro but unlikely under new definitions); Scorzoneroides 1 sp. Intro WA, OR, ID, IA, MA, ME, MI, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, WV, and VT; Urospermum 1 sp. intro CA.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Lactucinae Subtribe: Lactuca 12 spp. native and intro in all of USA, native AK, and intro HI.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Microseridinae Subtribe: Anisocoma monospecific SW NAM endemic native to CA, NV, AZ; Agoseris 10 spp. native to most of W USA from ND S to TX and all W exc. OK and TX, and inc. MN, IA, MI, and AK, inc. 2 endemics but 1 sp. now intro Sweden; Atrichoseris monospecific SW NAM endemic genus native CA, NV, UT, AZ; Calycoseris 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX; Chaetadelpha monospecific W USA endemic genus of OR, ID, CA, NV; Krigia 7 spp. E NAM endemic genus native to the E USA from ND S to TX and all E exc. ND, SD and inc. AZ, CO, NM; Lygodesmia 5 spp. native from MN S to LA and all W exc CA and LA and inc. WI, IN, GA, FL, inc. at least 3 endemics; Malacothrix 18 spp. native, most endemic, to W USA from MT S to NM and all W exc. WA and inc. TX; Microseris ~14 spp. native to W USA MT S to NM and all W plus SD, TX, MA, and AK; Munzothamnus monospecific narrow endemic genus of CA; Nothocalais 4 spp. Native, inc. 2 endemics, to W USA from MN S to LA and all W exc. AZ and LA and inc. WI, IL, NY; Pinaropappus 2 spp. native AZ, NM, TX, OK; Pleiacanthus monospecific W USA endemic genus of OR, CA, NV, AZ, UT, ID, MT; Prenanthella monospecific SW NAM endemic genus native to WA, CA, ID, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, and TX; Pyrrhopappus 4 spp. native, inc. 2 endemics, to SE USA from NE S to TX and E to PA S to FL exc. OH, NJ, and inc. AZ, NM; Rafinesquia 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native OR, CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX; Shinnersoseris monospecific C NAM endemic genus native WY, CO, UT, ND S to TX, MN, and IA; Stebbinsoseris 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to CA (1 endemic) and AZ; Stephanomeria 17 spp. native, many endemic, to W USA from ND S to TX and all W exc. SD and intro to NY; Uropappus monospecific W NAM endemic genus native WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, UT, AZ, NM, and TX.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Scorzonerinae Subtribe: Pseudopodospermum 1 sp. intro to CA; Scorzonera 2 spp. intro CA, MT, WY, CO, NM, NE, KS, TX; Tragopogon 10 spp. native and intro to most of the USA exc. MS, AL, FL, SC and intro to AK, HI.
USA Asteraceae: Gochnatioideae SubfamilyGenera:
Gochnatioideae Subfamily: Nahuatlea 1 sp. native to TX, LA, AL.
USA Asteraceae: Hecastocleidoideae Subfamily Genera:
Hecastocleidoideae Subfamily: Hecastocleis monospecific narrow endemic genus of CA, NV.
USA Asteraceae: Mutisoideae Subfamily Genera:
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Mutisieae Tribe: Adenocaulon 1 N NAM endemic sp. of an Americas and Asia genus native to WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, WY, ND, SD, MN, and MI; Chaptalia 4 spp. native to S USA from NM E to NC; Gerbera 1 sp. intro FL; Leibnitzia 1 sp. mostly Asian genus native AZ, NM.
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Nassauvieae Tribe: Acourtia 5 spp, native CA (1 endemic), NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX; Perezia 1 sp. intro MA; Trixis 2 spp. native CA, AZ, NM, TX.
USA Asteraceae: Vernonioideae Subfamily Genera:
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Arctotideae Tribe: Arctotheca 1 sp. introduced to CA; Arctotis 1 sp. intro to CA, SC, MA, AZ; Berkheya 1 sp. intro OR; Gazania 1 sp. intro to CA, NM; Haplocarpha 1 sp. intro FL.
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Vernonieae Tribe:Centratherum 1 sp. intro FL and HI; Cyanthillium 1 sp. intro FL and HI; Elephantopus 5 spp. pantropical genus native to SE USA from KS S to TX and E to NJ S to FL and intro in HI, inc. 3 spp. endemic to SE USA and a 4th former endemic now introduced to Africa, SAM; Hesperomannia 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of HI; Pseudelephantopus 1 sp. introduced to FL and HI; Stokesia monospecific former SE USA endemic genus native to LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC; Vernonia 24 spp. native to most of the USA exc. WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, WY, VT, ME.
Mexico AsteraceaeGenera Include:
Mexico Asteraceae: Asteroideae Subfamily Genera:
Asteroideae Subfamily: Anthemideae Tribe: Achillea 1 sp. native throughout all of Mexico; Anthemis 1 sp. Intro to NW Mexico; Argyranthemum 1 sp. intro to C Mexico; Artemisia 9 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of Mexico; Chrysanthemum 1-2 spp. intro to all of Mexico; Cotula 1 sp. intro NW Mexico; Glebionis 1 sp. intro SE Mexico; Ismelia 1 sp. Intro NW Mexico; Matricaria 1 sp. native to NW Mexico; Soliva 1 sp. native to NE, SW+C Mexico; Tanacetum 2 spp. introduced to most of Mexico excluding C and Ver.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Astereae Tribe: Almutaster monospecific NAM endemic sp. native to N+W+C Mexico; Aphanostephus 4 spp. mostly S NAM endemic genus native NE+SW+C Mexico, Ver., including 1 sp endemic to Mexico;Aquilula monospecific NE Mexican endemic of Coa, NL, Tam; Archibaccharis ~30 spp. native and mostly endemic throughout all of Mexico; Astranthium 10 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to all of Mexico, including 8 spp. endemic to Mexico; Aztecaster 2 spp. Mexican endemic genus of NE Mexico (1), Gro + Oax (1); Baccharis 120+ spp. native throughout all of Mexico, inc. dozens of endemics; Bathysanthus monospecific endemic to NE Mexico; Batopilasia monospecific narrow endemic of Chi; Chaetopappa 7 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to most of Mexico, excluding SE Mexico, including 3 narrow endemics of Coa (2) and Chi + Coa (1); Chloracantha monospecific S NAM + CAM endemic sp. native to all of Mexico; Corethrogyne monospecific W NAM endemic sp. native to BCN; Croptilon 1 spp. S NAM endemic genus native NL; Dichaetophora monospecific S NAM endemic sp. native to Chi, Coa, NL; Dichrocephala 1 sp. intro. to SE Mexico; Dieteria 2 spp. W NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico; Egletes 2 spp. native to all of Mexico; Ericameria ~6 spp. W+C NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico, including 2 narrow endemics of BC; Erigeron ~55 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of Mexico inc. the Mexican Pacific Is. and includes many endemics; Euthamia 1 sp. former NAM endemic genus native BCN; Geissolepis monospecific narrow endemic of NE Mexico; Grindelia 10-15 spp. Including 6 endemics native to all of Mexico; Gutierrezia ~15 spp. native to most of Mexico exc. SE Mexico; Gymnosperma monospecific S NAM + Guatemala endemic sp. native to all of Mexico;Hazardia 6 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native and mostly endemic to BCN, BCS; Heterotheca ~11 spp. Throughout most of Mexico except the SE; Isocoma ~14 spp. native to most of Mexico except the SE, includes several endemics; Laennecia ~12 spp. native to all of Mexico, including several endemics; Lessingia 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to BCN, NW Mexico; Leucosyris 9 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to most of Mexico exc. SE and Ver, includes 2 endemics; Lorandersonia 2 spp. S-C NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico; Machaeranthera 1-2 spp. native to N and SW Mexico; Medranoa 5 spp. Native, inc. 4 endemic, to NE Mexico and Ver; Monoptilon 1 sp. SW NAM endemic native to NW Mexico; Oreochrysum monospecific S-C NAM endemic native to N Mexico; Oritrophium 2 spp. both endemic to N Mexico and Ver, rest of genus is SAM; Osbertia 3 spp. Mexico & Guatemala endemic genus native throughout Mexico, includes 1 endemic to Qro; Pentachaeta 1 sp. Mostly CA-endemic genus native to BCN; Pityopsis 1-2 spp. Native to most of Mexico except the NW; Psilactis 5 spp. native to all of Mexico, including 1 endemic; Rayjacksonia 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico; Sanrobertia monospecific narrow endemic of NE Mexico; Solidago 8 spp. native to all of Mexico; Stenotus 1 sp. native to NW Mexico; Stephanodoria monospecific narrow endemic of NE Mexico; Symphyotrichum 19 spp., including several endemics, native to all of Mexico; Tomentaurum 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of N Mexico; Townsendia 3 spp. native to most of Mexico exc. SE, includes 1 endemic; Xanthisma (or Sideranthus now)6 spp. native throughout Mexico, including 3 endemics; Xanthocephalum 5 spp., inc. 4 endemics of most of Mexico except the SE; Xylorhiza 4 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico, including 1 endemic.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Bahieae Tribe: Achyropappus 2 spp. Mexico & Guatemala endemic genus of NW+C+ Mexico, both species endemic to Mexico; Bartlettia monospecific S NAM endemic native to NE Mexico; Chaetymenia monospecific Mexico endemic of N+SW Mexico; Espejoa monospecific Mexico + CAM endemic sp. native SW+SE Mexico, Ver; Florestina 8 spp. former NAM + CAM endemic genus native to most of Mexico except NW Mexico, includes 5 spp. endemic to Mexico; Hymenopappus 3 spp. native to N Mexico, includes 1 endemic; Hymenothrix 5+ spp. S NAM endemic genus native to most of Mexico exc. Ver and SE; Loxothysanus 2 spp. Mexico endemic genus native to most of Mexico exc. NW; Palafoxia 10 spp native to N Mexico, including 4 endemics; Peucephyllum monospecific SW NAM endemic native to NW Mexico; Picradeniopsis 3-4 spp. Native to most of Mexico exc. SE; Psathyrotopsis 2-3 spp. native to NE Mexico; Schkuhria 2 spp. Including 1 endemic native throughout Mexico.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Calenduleae Tribe: Calendula 1-2 spp. intro to SE Mexico;
Asteroideae Subfamily: Chaenactideae Tribe: Chaenactis 8 spp. W NAM endemic genus native to NW BCN, BCS, Son, Sin, inc 1 narrow endemic of BCN + BCS.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Coreopsideae Tribe: Bidens 56 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to all of Mexico, including Mexican Pacific Is., with high endemism; Chrysanthellum 11 spp. native throughout Mexico, inc. 8 narrow Mexican endemic spp. of Jl + Mch (3), Oax + Chp (1), Oax (1), Nay + Gro (1), Tam (1), Sun + Dgo (1); Coreocarpus 7 spp. S NAM endemic genus native N+C Mexico, inc. 6 narrow endemics of BCS (1), Sin + Dgo (1), Socorro Is. (1), Mex (1), NW Mexico (2); Coreopsis ~17 spp. former Americas endemic genus native to most of Mexico exc. SE Mexico, includes 4 endemics; Cosmos ~34 spp., including 28 endemics, of this former Americas endemic genus is native to all of Mexico; Dahlia ~42 spp. former Mexico & N neoendemic genus native to all of Mexico, with about 35 spp. Being endemic, genus now intro pantropical; Dicranocarpus monospecific SE NAM endemic sp. is native to NE Mexico;Goldmanella monospecific Mesoamerican endemic genus native to SE Mexico & N CAM; Henricksonia monospecific narrow endemic genus of NE Mexico; Heterosperma 5 spp. native throughout all of Mexico, inc. 2 endemics; Hidalgoa 2 spp. Mexico & neoendemic genus native to SW+C+SE Mexico, including 1 endemic
Asteroideae Subfamily: Eupatorieae Tribe: Ageratella monospecific endemic of N+W Mexico; Ageratina ~150 spp, the vast majority endemic, are native to all of Mexico, including the Mexican Pacific Is.; Ageratum 15+ spp. former Americas endemic genus native all of Mexico, now intro subcosmopolitan; Alomia 4 spp. Mexican endemic genus, with 2 narrow endemics of Son (1), Jal (1); Amolinia monospecific Mesoamerica endemic of SE Mexico, Guatemala & Belize; Asanthus 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native N+C+W Mexico, inc. 2 endemics; Bartlettina 22 spp. native to all of Mexico, including 13 endemics; Brickellia 80+ spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. the Mexican Pacific Is.; Brickelliastrum 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico, inc. 1 narrow endemic; Campuloclinium 1 sp. mostly neoendemic genus native NE+SE Mexico, Ver, now intro to Africa; Carminatia 5 spp. S NAM & Mesoamerican genus native to all of Mexico, inc. 3 spp. endemic to Mexico; Carphochaete 7 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N+SW+C Mexico, inc. 6 spp endemic to Mexico; Chromolaena 15-20 spp. Americas genus native to all of Mexico, inc. several endemics; Conoclinium 3 spp. Americas genus native to all of Mexico, inc. 1 endemic; Critonia 16 spp. Mexico & neoendemic genus native to all of Mexico, inc. several endemics; Critoniadelphus 2 spp. Mesoamerica endemic genus native to S Mexico; Decachaeta 8 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. 7 endemic to Mexico; Eupatoriastrum 7 spp. native to most of Mexico exc. NW, inc. 5 spp. endemic to Mexico 4 of which are narrow endemic spp. of Oax (2), Chp (1), Ver (1); Eupatorium 1 sp. subcosmopolitan genus native to NE Mexico; Fleischmannia ~35 spp. native to all of Mexico; Fleischmanniopsis 3 spp. native to most of Mexico exc. NW Mexico, inc. 1 narrow endemic of Chp; Flyriella 4 spp. S NAM endemic genus native Chi, Coa, NL, Tam, inc. 3 endemics; Gymnocoronis 3 spp. native to NE+SW+SE Mexico, Ver, inc. 1 endemic to Mexico; Hebeclinium 1 sp. mostly neoendemic genus native to most of Mexico exc. NW Mexico; Hofmeisteria 12 spp. mostly Mexico endemic in all of Mexico exc. Ver, 1 sp. also native to Colombia; Isocarpha 2 spp. native to NE, SW, SE Mexico, Ver; Jaliscoa 3 spp. Endemic genus of NE+SW+C Mexico; Koanophyllon 24 spp. native to all of Mexico, including several endemics; Kyrsteniopsis 6 spp. Including 5 endemics native to most of Mexico except the NW, 2 of which are narrow endemics of Chp (1) and Gro (1); Liatris 2 spp. native to NE Mexico;Macvaughiella 3 spp. Mesoamerica endemic genus native to S Mexico, Ver, including 1 endemic to SW Mexico; Malperia monospecific SW NAM endemic genus native NW Mexico; Mexianthus monospecific narrow endemic of SW Mexico; Microspermum 8 spp. Mexican endemic genus of S+C Mexico; Mikania ~25 spp. native throughout all of Mexico; Neomirandea 2 spp. Native to S+C Mexico, Ver; Nesomia monospecific narrow endemic of SE Mexico; Oxylobus 7 spp., inc. 5 endemics to most of Mexico exc. NW; Paneroa monospecific narrow endemic of SW Mexico; Peteravenia 4 spp. mostly Mesoameria genus native to NE+S Mexico, Ver, including 1 endemic to SW Mexico; Piqueria 6 spp. mostly Mexican endemic genus native to all of Mexico; Pleurocoronis 3 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native (2 endemic) to NW Mexico; Shinnersia monospecific narrow endemic genus of Texas and NE Mexico; Stevia 116 spp. native to all of Mexico, with 100+ being endemic; Steviopsis 5 spp. Mexico endemic genus native to N+SW+C Mexico; Tamaulipa monospecific S NAM endemic native to NE Mexico, Ver; Trichocoronis 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N+SW+C Mexico.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Gnaphalieae Tribe: Achyrocline 5 spp. Includes 3 endemics native to NW+SW+SE Mexico, Ver; Anaphalis 1 sp. native to NW Mexico; Ancistrocarphus 1 sp. SW NAM endemic genus native BCN; Antennaria 4-5 spp. mostly N temperate genus native to N Mexico; Diaperia 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico; Gamochaeta 13 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. Mexican Pacific Is.; Gnaphaliothamnus 8 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. 6 endemic to Mexico; Gnaphalium 1-2 spp. cosmopolitan genus native N Mexico, many have been reclassified as Pseudognaphilium; Logfia 1 sp. intro to NW Mexico; Mexerion 3 spp. inc. 2 endemics native throughout Mexico, 1 sp. Also in Guatemala and Costa Rica; Micropus 1 sp. native to NW Mexico; Pseudognaphalium ~54 spp. including 41 endemics native to all of Mexico, inc. Mexican Pacific Islands; Xerochrysum 1 sp. intro to SE Mexico.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Helenieae Tribe: Amblyolepis monospecific S NAM endemic sp. native to Coa, NL, Tam; Baileya 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N+SW Mexico; Gaillardia 13 spp. native to N+ C Mexico, Ver and intro SE Mexico, inc 7 spp. endemic to Mexico, 4 of which are narrow endemicd of Coa (3), Chi (1), now intro subcosmopolitan; Helenium ~10 spp. native to all of Mexico; Hymenoxys 9 spp. native, including several endemics, to all of Mexico; Pelucha monospecific narrow endemic of NW Mexico; Plateilema monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico; Psathyrotes 1 sp. SW NAM endemic genus native to NW Mexico; Psilostrophe 4 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico, inc. 2 narrow endemics of Chi (1) and Chi + N Dgo (1); Tetraneuris 4 spp. NAM endemic genus native to NE Mexico; Trichoptilium monospecific SW NAM endemic native to NW Mexico.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Heliantheae Tribe: Acmella 6 spp. mostly pantropical genus native to all of Mexico, inc. 1 endemic of Ver + Pue; Agnorhiza 1 sp. SW NAM endemic genus native BCN; Aldama 35-40 spp. native throughout Mexico, including several endemics; Ambrosia ~30 spp. native to all of Mexico, and intro to Mexican Pacific Is., several are endemic to Mexico; Bahiopsis 11 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to NW Mexico, inc. 9 narrow endemics of BCN + BCS (3), BCS (3), Socorro Is. (1), and NW Mexico (2); Baltimora 2 spp. native to all of Mexico; Berlandiera 5 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N+SW Mexico, inc. 2 endemics; Borrichia 2 spp. native to E+C+S Mexico; Calanticaria 5 spp. endemic to NE Mexico, Ver., including 2 narrow endemics of Dgo; Calyptocarpus 2 spp. native to all of Mexico; Chromolepis monospecific endemic of N+SW+C Mexico; Clibadium 3-4 spp. native to Mexico, exc. NW; Damnxanthodium monospecific narrow endemic of Sin, Dgo; Davilanthus 7 spp. narrow Mexican endemic genus of Pue (2), Qro + Hgo + Ver (1), Oax (1), Pue + Oax (1), Ver + Pue + Oax (1), Ver (1); Delilia 1 sp. native to all of Mexico; Dicoria 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to NW Mexico, inc. 1 narrow endemic of Son; Dendroviguiera 13 spp. endemic to Mexico, 14th sp. is endemic to CAM; Dugesia monospecific Mexico endemic of NE+SW+C Mexico, Ver; Eclipta 1 sp. native throughout Mexico, and intro cosmopolitan; Electranthera 3 spp. Mexico & N CAM endemic genus native to most of Mexico exc. NW Mexic; Encelia 15 spp .native to N Mexico, inc. 10 narrow endemics of BCN + BCS (5), BCN (1), BCS (2), NW Mexico (2); Engelmannia monospecific S NAM endemic native to NE Mexico; Eremosis 21 spp. Mexico & neoendemic genus native to all of Mexico, including 15 spp. endemic to Mexico; Euphrosyne 2 spp. native to N+SW+C Mexico, inc. 1 endemic; Flourensia 13 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to all of Mexico, inc. 11 endemics; Geraea 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native BCN, Son; Hedosyne monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to N+SW Mexico; Gonzalezia 3 spp. narrow Mexican endemic genus of Son + Chi + Dgo (1), Sin + Dgo + Zac (1), NE Mexico S to Jal (1); Helianthella 5 spp. W NAM endemic genus native to N+SW Mexico, inc. 4 endemic; Helianthus ~11 spp. native inc. 2 narrow endemics, native throughout Mexico exc. Ver and SE where it is introduced; Heliomeris 3 spp. S NAM genus native throughout Mexico, inc. 1 endemic; Heliopsis 12 spp. native throughout Mexico, species and genus mostly endemic to Mexico; Hybridella 2 spp. Mexico endemic genus native to NE+C+SW Mexico and Ver; Hymenostephium 8 spp. inc. 5 endemics native throughout all of Mexico; Iostephane 4 spp. Mexico endemic genus found throughout all of Mexico; Iva 3-4 spp. Native to N+C Mexico, Ver; Jefea 4-5 spp. native to NE+SW+C, Ver; Lagascea 9 spp. native throughout Mexico, inc. several endemics; Lasianthaea 16 spp. mostly Mexican endemic genus native throughout all of Mexico; Lindheimera monospecific SC NAM endemic genus native NE Mexico; Lundellianthus 3 spp. inc. 1 endemic to SW+SE Mexico; Melanthera 2 spp. native to most of Mexico exc. NW; Montanoa 24 spp. native to all of Mexico, mostly endemic; Otopappus 14 spp. native, inc. many endemics found throughout Mexico; Parthenice monospecific S NAM endemic native to N Mexico; Parthenium ~13 spp. native and mostly endemic all throughout Mexico; Perymeniopsis monospecific endemic of NE+SW+C Mexico, Ver; Perymenium ~50+ spp. mostly endemic throughout Mexico; Philactis 4 spp. native, inc. 3 endemics of SW+SE+C Mexico, 1 sp. extends to Guatemala; Plagiolophus monospecific narrow endemic of SE Mexico; Podachaenium ~6 spp. native throughout Mexico, inc. several endemics; Ratibida 4 spp. native to N+C Mexico, Ver, inc. 2 endemics;Rensonia monospecific Mesoamerica genus native to SE+SW Mexico, Ver; Rojasianthe monospecific narrow endemic of SE Mexico and Guatemala; Salmea 4 spp. native, inc. 2 endemics of most of Mexico exc. NW; Sanvitalia 6 spp. native throughout Mexico, inc. ~3 endemics;Sclerocarpus 7 spp. native inc. many endemics to all of Mexico; Sidneya 1 sp. S NAM endemic genus native to N+C+SW Mexico, inc. 1 endemic; Simsia 28 spp. native throughout Mexico, mostly endemic to Mexico; Sphagneticola 1 sp. native to W+SE Mexico, Ver; Spilanthes 1 sp. native to W Mexico, most of genus has been transferred to Acmella; Squamopappus monospecific Mesoamerican endemic of SE Mexico and Guatemala; Synedrella monospecific native to most of Mexico exc. NW; Tehuana monospecific narrow endemic of S Mexico; Tetrachyron 10 spp. Mesoamerica endemic genus native to most of Mexico exc. NW, inc. 8 endemic, other 2 extend into Guatemala; Tithonia 12 spp. (entire genus) native throughout Mexico, many endemic; Trichocoryne monospecific endemic of N Mexico; Tuxtla monospecific disjunct endemic of Ver and Costa Rica; Verbesina 165 spp. native, inc. ~138 endemics found throughout Mexico, 1 sp. now intro subcosmopolitan; Vigethia monospecific narrow endemic of NE Mexico; Viguiera 10 spp. native throughout Mexico inc. 9 endemics;Wamalchitamia 6 spp. inc. 5 endemics of W+S+C Mexico; Wedelia ~18 spp. native throughout Mexico, includes several endemics; Xanthium 3 spp. native throughout Mexico, genus now cosmopolitan; Zaluzania 12 sp. S NAM endemic genus, 11 endemic to Mexico exc. the SE; Zexmenia 3 spp. Native to S Mexico and Ver; Zinnia ~25 spp. native throughout Mexico, inc. 6+ endemic, genus now subcosmopolitan.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Inuleae Tribe: Dittrichia 1 sp. intro NW Mexico; Epaltes 1 sp. mostly pantropical genus native to S+C Mexico, Ver; Pseudoconyza monospecific ~pantropical genus native to all of Mexico and the Mexican Pacific Is.; Pterocaulon 1 sp. native to NE Mexico, Ver.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Madieae Tribe: Achyrachaena monospecific SW NAM endemic native BCN; Adenothamnus monospecific narrow endemic of BCN; Amblyopappus monospecific W Americas endemic genus native to BC, also in W USA and disjunct in C+S Chile; Baeriopsis monospecific single-island endemic of Guadalupe Is.; Centromadia 2 spp. former SW NAM endemic genus native BCN, inc. 1 narrow endemic and 1 sp. now intro to Europe; Deinandra 10 spp. former SW NAM endemic genus native BCN (3 endemics), BCS, Guadalupe Is. (1 endemic), and San Benito Is. (1 endemic) and 1 sp. now intro to W Europe;Eriophyllum 4 spp. mostly W USA endemic genus native to NW Mexico, mostly BCN;Holocarpha 1 sp. native to NW Mexico, most of genus is endemic to California, USA; Hulsea 3 spp. native to NW Mexico; Lasthenia 3 spp. native to NW Mexico, inc. 1 endemic; Layia 2 spp. native to NW Mexico, most of the genus is endemic to W USA; Madia 2 spp. native to NW Mexico, most of the genus is endemic to the W USA; Osmadenia monospecific SW NAM endemic genus of NW Mexico and California, USA; Syntrichopappus 1 sp. SW NAM endemic genus native to NW Mexico; Venegasia monospecific SW NAM endemic native to NW Mexico and California, USA.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Millerieae Tribe: Alepidocline 5 spp. native to Chp, Oax, inc. 4 narrow endemics of Oax (3), Chp (1); Alloispermum 11 spp. native to all of Mexico inc. 8 spp. endemic to Mexico; Axiniphyllum 5 spp. Mexican endemic of NE+SW Mexico; Bebbia monospecific S NAM endemic native to N Mexico; Cymophora 3 spp. native to SW Mexico, inc. 2 narrow endemics with other sp. now introduced in E USA; Desmanthodium 6 spp. endemic to NE+S+C Mexico, genus also in neotropics; Dyscritothamnus 2 spp. E Mexican endemic genus of NE Mexico, Ver; Faxonia monospecific narrow endemic of BCS; Galinsoga 8 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. 6 endemics, with other 2 spp. now intro cosmopolitan; Guardiola 12 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N+C+SW Mexico, inc. 11 endemics; Guizotia 1 sp. intro to C Mexico; Jaegeria 8 spp. native throughout Mexico, inc. 3 endemics; Melampodium 38 spp. native throughout Mexico, the center of diversity for the genus, with most being endemic; Milleria monospecific endemic genus native throughout Mexico and the N Neotropics; Oteiza 3 spp. endemic to NE+SW+C Mexico, 4th in genus is endemic to Guatemala; Rumfordia 7 spp. inc 6 endemic throughout Mexico; Sabazia 15 spp. many endemic throughout all of Mexico; Schistocarpha 7-8 spp., inc. 2 endemics of most of Mexico exc. NW; Selloa 2 spp. endemic to SW+C Mexico, Ver, other species in genus endemic to Colombia; Sigesbeckia 3 spp., inc 2 endemics native throughout Mexico; Smallanthus 11 spp. mostly endemic throughout Mexico; Stachycephalum 1 sp. endemic to SW Mexico, rest of genus in SAM; Tetragonotheca 1 sp. Native to NE Mexico, most are SE USA endemics; Tridax 25+ spp. native, many endemic, throughout Mexico; Trigonospermum 6 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. 4 endemics; Zandera 3 spp. Mexican endemic genus of most of Mexico exc. SE and Ver.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Neurolaeneae Tribe: Calea ~58 spp. native to all of Mexico with many endemics; Enydra 2 spp. mostly pantropical genus inc. 1 native to Tab and 1 Old World intro to SE Mexico; Greenmaniella monospecific narrow endemic of Coa, NL, and Tam; Neurolaena 13 spp. inc 10 endemics found throughout most of Mexico exc. NW
Asteroideae Subfamily: Perityleae Tribe: Eutetras 2 spp. Mexican endemics of NW+SW Mexico, Ver; Galeana monospecific native of most of Mexico exc. NW Mexico; Pericome 2 spp., inc 1 endemic, native to N+SW Mexico;Perityle ~4-5 spp. (under new narrower definition) native to N+SW Mexico, and may include 3 narrow endemics of BCN + BCS formerly listed as Amauria; Villanova 1 sp. native to C Mexico and Ver.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Plucheeae Tribe: Pluchea 11 spp. native throughout Mexico.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Senecioneae Tribe: Barkleyanthus monospecific native in all of Mexico; Delairea 1 sp. intro to NW Mexico;Digitacalia 5 spp. Mexican endemic genus in most of Mexico exc Ver, inc 3 narrow endemics of Chp (1), Mch (1), Gro + Oax (1); Emilia 1-2 spp. pantropical genus native to SE Mexico and intro to C. Mexico; Erechtites 2 spp. native to most of Mexico exc. NW Mexico; Lepidospartum 1 sp. native to NW Mexico; Mixtecalia monospecific narrow endemic of SW Mexico; Nelsonianthus 2 spp. Mesoamerican endemics of E+C Mexico, Ver (1 endemic to C Mexico and Ver), and Guatemala; Packera ~15 spp. Native to most of Mexico exc. SE, inc. several endemics; Pentacalia ~14 spp. native to SW+SE+C Mexico, Ver, inc. endemics; Pippenalia monospecific endemic to N+SW Mexico; Pittocaulon 5 spp. inc. 4 endemics of NE+S+C Mexico, Ver; Psacaliopsis 3 spp. inc. 2 endemics of SW+C Mexico; Psacalium ~50 spp. mostly endemic throughout Mexico; Pseudogynoxys 4 spp. native throughout Mexico, inc. 1 endemic to C Mexico;Robinsonecio 2 spp. native to E+C Mexico, inc. 1 endemic in the NE, 1 sp. Into Guatemala; Roldana ~55 spp., with ~30 endemic found throughout Mexico; Senecio 63 spp. cosmopolitan genus native throughout Mexico, inc. 44 endemics;Telanthophora 12 spp. inc 5 endemics native to most of Mexico exc. NW; Tetradymia 2 spp. W NAM endemic genus native to BCN, BNS, and Son; Villasenoria monospecific endemic of S + Gulf Mexico; Werneria 1 sp. native to SE Mexico; Zemisia 1 sp. native to SW+SE Mexico, Ver.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Tageteae Tribe: Adenophyllum 12 spp. inc. 11 native to BCN, BCS, Chi, Chp, Col, Dgo, Gro, Jal, Mch, Nay, Oax, Sin, and Son, and 1 sp. found throughout Mexico, inc. 6 endemic to Mexico; Arnicastrum 2 spp. narrow Mexican endemic genus of Son+Chi+Dgo (1) and Gro (1); Bajacalia 3 spp. endemic genus of NW Mexico, inc. 2 narrow endemics of BCS; Boeberastrum 2 spp. NW Mexico endemic genus, inc. 1 narrow endemic of BCS; Boeberoides monospecific endemic to SW+C Mexico; Chrysactinia 6 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to most of Mexico exc. SE Mexico, inc. 5 narrow endemics of NE Mexico (4) and Sin (1); Clappia monospecific S NAM endemic genus native NL, Tam;Comaclinium monospecific genus native to Chp; Coulterella monospecific narrow endemic of BCS; Dyssodia 4 spp. Native, inc. 2 endemics, to all of Mexico; Flaveria 15 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc 11 endemics; Gymnolaena 3 spp. Mexican endemic genus native to S+C Mexico; Haploesthes 4 spp. S-C NAM endemic genus native, inc. 3 endemics, of NE Mexico; Hydropectis 3 spp. endemic genus of N+SW Mexico; Leucactinia monospecific narrow endemic genus of NE Mexico; Nicolletia 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native N+SW Mexico, inc. 1 endemic to NW Mexico; Oxypappus monospecific Mexican endemic native to N+SW Mexico; Pectis ~45 spp. native throughout Mexico with high endemism rates; Porophyllum ~17 spp. native throughout Mexico, with high endemism; Pseudoclappia 1 sp. native to NE Mexico; Sartwellia 4 spp. inc. 3 narrow endemics native to NE Mexico, 4th species is also in S-C USA; Strotheria monospecific narrow endemic of NE Mexico; Tagetes ~36 spp. native throughout Mexico, many endemic and restricted to the highlands, genus now intro subcosmopolitan; Thymophylla 13 spp. (whole genus) native to most of Mexico exc. SW, inc. 4 endemic to Mexico; Urbinella monospecific endemic genus of N Mexico.
Mexico Asteraceae: Carduoideae Subfamily Genera:
Carduoideae Subfamily: Cardueae Tribe: Carduus 1-2 spp. intro to NW Mexico; Carthamus 2-3 spp. intro to all of Mexico; Centaurea 3-5 spp. intro NW+SE Mexico; Cirsium 45 spp. inc. 28 endemics native all throughout Mexico; Cynara 1 sp. intro to NW Mexico; Plectocephalus 2 spp. nativeto N+SW+C Mexico; Silybum 1 sp. intro SE Mexico.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Crepidinae Subtribe: Crepis 1 sp. cosmopolitan genus native N Mexico, and intro Ver; Lapsana 1 sp. intro to C Mexico; Taraxacum ~3 spp. intro in NW Mexico and native in all of the rest of Mexico; Youngia 1 sp. intro to C Mexico.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hieraciinae Subtribe: Hieracium 36 spp. Native, inc. many endemics, throughout all of Mexico.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hyoseridinae Subtribe: Launaea 1 sp. intro to SE Mexico; Sonchus 1 sp. intro to SE Mexico.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hypochaeridinae Subtribe:Hedypnois 1 sp. intro to NW Mexico; Helminthotheca 1 sp. intro to NW Mexico; Hypochaeris 1-2 spp. intro to NW+C Mexico.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Microseridinae Subtribe:Anisocoma monospecific SW NAM endemic genus native to BCN; Agoseris 2 spp. native to NW Mexico; Atrichoseris monospecific SW NAM endemic genus native BCN; Calycoseris 2 spp. SW NAM endemic genus native to NW Mexico; Krigia 1 sp. native to NE Mexico; Lygodesmia 1 sp. native to N Mexico; Malacothrix 3 spp. native to N Mexico; Marshalljohnstonia monospecific narrow endemic of NE Mexico; Microseris 3 spp. native to NW Mexico, primarily BCN;Pinaropappus 9 spp. native throughout Mexico, mostly endemic genus; Prenanthella monospecific SW NAM endemic genus native to NW Mexico; Pyrrhopappus 2 spp. native to N+C+SW Mexico, also in USA;Rafinesquia 2 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico; Stebbinsoseris 1 sp. SW NAM endemic genus native to NW Mexico; Stephanomeria 4 spp. native to N Mexico inc. 1 narrow endemic of Guadalupe Is.; Uropappus monospecific W NAM endemic genus native to NW Mexico.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Scorzonerinae Subtribe: Tragopogon 2-3 spp. intro throughout Mexico exc. C Mexico.
Gochnatioideae Subfamily: Nahuatlea 6 spp., inc. 5 endemics, native throughout Mexico; Tehuasca monospecific narrow endemic of NE Mexico and Ver.
Mexico Asteraceae: Mutisioideae Subfamily Genera:
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Mutisieae Tribe: Adenocaulon 1 sp. endemic to SE Mexico and Guatemala, rest of genus is North & South America and Asia; Chaptalia 12 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. ~7 endemics; Leibnitzia 1 sp. mostly Asian genus native throughout Mexico exc. SE.
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Nassauvieae Tribe: Acourtia 80 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. ~65 endemics; Calorezia 1 sp. S SAM endemic genus native C Chile; Jungia 2 spp. Native, inc. 1 endemic, to S Mexico; Trixis 28 spp. native, inc. ~19 endemic, throughout Mexico.
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Onoserideae Tribe: Onoseris 1 sp. native to S Mexico.
Mexico Vernonioideae Subfamily Genera Include:
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Arctotideae Tribe: Arctotheca 1 sp. intro to C Mexico.
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Liabeae Tribe: Liabum 1 sp. native to S Mexico and Ver.
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Vernonieae Tribe: Bolanosa monospecific endemic genus of NE+SW Mexico; Centratherum 1 sp. intro to C+SE Mexico; Critoniopsis ~22 spp. native NE+SW+C Mexico, Ver, inc. 7-8 endemics; Cyanthillium 1 sp. intro to SE Mexico; Cyrtocymura 1 sp. neoendemic genus native to SE Mexico;Elephantopus 1 sp. pantropical genus native to all of Mexico; Harleya monospecific Mesoamerica endemic genus native to SE Mexico; Lepidaploa ~9 spp. native to most of Mexico exc. NW; Lepidonia 6 spp. Inc 5 endemics native to S+C Mexico, Ver, rest of genus is endemic to CAM; Orthopappus monospecific Mexico and neoendemic native to NE+S Mexico, Ver; Piptocarpha 1 sp. Neoendemic genus native to S Mexico and Ver; Pseudelephantopus 1 sp. native throughout all of Mexico; Spiracantha monospecific N neoendemic genus native to S+C Mexico, Ver; Stenocephalum 1 sp. mostly SAM genus native to S Mexico; Stramentopappus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of SW Mexico; Struchium monospecific former neoendemic native to SE Mexico; Trichospira monospecific neoendemic genus native to S Mexico and Ver; Vernonanthura 7 spp. Inc. 5 endemics native throughout Mexico; Vernonia ~18 spp. native, inc 2+ endemics, to N+SW Mexico and Ver; Vickianthus 10 spp. Mexican endemic genus native to all of Mexico; Sinclairia ~26 spp. native and mostly endemic throughout Mexico.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Anthemideae Tribe: Achillea 1 sp. native to Guatemala, and intro to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina; Anthemis 1 sp. intro to Honduras, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Juan Fernandez Is., Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay; Argyranthemum 1 sp. intro to Nicaragua, Colombia, Bolivia; Artemisia 6-7 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to Guatemala, Hispaniola, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, NW+S Argentina, including 5 narrow high-altitude endemics of Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina, also 1-2 spp. intro to Honduras, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Leeward Is., Juan Fernandez Is., Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and NE Argentina; Chamaemelum 1 sp. intro to Haiti, Colombia; Chrysanthemum 1-2 spp. Intro to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia; Cladanthus 1 sp. intro to Uruguay;Coleostephus 1 sp. intro to Dominican Republic and Uruguay; Cotula 1-2 spp. intro to Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Juan Fernandez Is.; Glebionis 1 sp. intro to El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Uruguay; Matricaria 1 sp. intro to most of CAM, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic; Santolina 1 sp. intro to Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Soliva 6 spp. native to Costa Rica S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, E+S Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, mostly endemic to the region; Tanacetum 2 spp. Introduced to most of the Neotropics, exc. Lesser Antilles, Belize, Nicaragua, and French Guiana to Guyana; Tripleurospermum 1 sp. intro to Cuba, Bolivia, and Uruguay.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Astereae Tribe: Apopyros 2 spp. E SAM endemic genus of E+C+S Brazil, Paraguay, NE Argentina; Archibaccharis ~13 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize) and Colombia, most of genus is endemic to Mexico; Baccharis 380+ spp. native to CAM, Bermuda, Bahamas, Antilles (exc. Aruba, Netherlands Antilles), Galapagos, Juan Fernandez Is, and all of SAM exc. French Guiana; Bellis 1 sp. intro to Costa Rica, Colombia, Bolivia, Uruguay; Blakiella monospecific N SAM endemic to Colombia and Venezuela; Cabreraea monospecific endemic to NW Argentina; Callistephus 1 sp. intro to El Salvador, Honduras, Suriname, and Peru; Chiliophyllum monospecific narrow endemic of NW Argentina; Chiliotrichiopsis 3 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, NW Argentina; Chiliotrichum 1 S SAM endemic sp. native to NW Argentina; Chloracantha monospecific S NAM + CAM endemic sp. native to CAM (exc. Belize); Chrysothamnus 1 former W NAM endemic sp. intro to Dominican Republic;Dichrocephala 1 sp. intro to Guatemala; Diplostephium 56 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Chile; Egletes 7 spp. native to CAM (exc. Panama), Antilles (exc. Cayman Is., Puerto Rico), Trinidad-Tobago, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, including 3 narrow endemic spp. of Colombia and Venezuela (2) and Ecuador (1); Erigeron ~12 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to CAM, Bermuda, Bahamas, Turks-Caicos, Antilles (exc. Aruba, Netherlands), Trinidad-Tobago, Juan Fernandez Is, Galapagos, and SAM; Exostigma 2 spp. C SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, C+S+SE Brazil, Paraguay, N Argentina, Uruguay; Floscaldasia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador; Flosmutisia monospecific narrow endemic of Colombia; Grindelia ~30 spp., mostly endemics, native to Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, S Brazil, Uruguay; Gundlachia 2 spp. N neoendemic genus native to the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Leeward Is, Aruba Netherlands Antilles, Venezuela; Gutierrezia 7-8 spp. native to Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, absent CAM & N SAM, rest of genus endemic to NAM; Guynesomia monospecific narrow endemic of Coquimbo, Chile; Gymnosperma monospecific S NAM + Guatemala endemic genus native Guatemala; Haplopappus 75 spp. W+S SAM endemic genus native to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina; Haroldia monospecific narrow endemic of NW Argentina; Heterotheca 1 sp. native to Belize; Hinterhubera 9 spp. Narrow endemic genus of Colombia and Venezuela; Hysterionica 12 spp. C+S SAM endemic genus native to Bolivia, Paraguay, S Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina; Inulopsis 4 spp. C SAM endemic of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil; Katinasia monospecifc endemic of NW and S Argentina; Kieslingia monospecific endemic of N Chile; Laennecia 9 spp. native to Guatemal, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N Argenitina, including 2+ spp. Endemic to the Andes; Laestadia 6 spp. Neoendemic genus of the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia; Leptostelma 6 spp. SAM endemic genus of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, and Uruguay; Linochilus 59 spp. N neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador; Llerasia 14 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Microgyne 2 spp. Neoendemic genus of N Argentina and Uruguay; Nardophyllum 7 spp. SAM endemic genus Bolivia, Brazil, NW+S Argentina; Neja 5 spp. E SAM endemic genus of NE Argentina, Uruguay, and S Brazil; Noticastrum 21 spp. SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay, S+SE Brazil, Uruguay, C+S Chile, Argentina; Novenia monospecific endemic of Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Oritrophium 23 spp. W SAM endemics of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, 2 in genus endemic to Mexico; Osbertia 1 sp. Mexico & Guatemala endemic genus native to Guatemala; Parastrephia 3 spp. neoendemic of Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, NW Argentina, S+SE Brazil; Pityopsis 1 sp. Native to the Bahamas, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras; Plagiocheilus 6 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, N Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and NE Argentina; Podocoma 7 spp. E SAM endemic genus of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Psilactis 1 sp. native to Colombia and Peru; Solidago 13 spp. native to Guatemala, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil and introduced to Nicaragua, Peru, and Colombia; Sommerfeltia 2 spp. neoendemic of NE Argentina, Uruguay, and S Brazil; Symphyotrichum 11 spp. Native to CAM, the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile and introduced to French Guiana and Guyana; Talamancaster 6 spp. neoendemic genus of Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, and Venezuela; Xylothamia 3 spp. S NAM endemic genus native to N Mexico, inc 1-2 endemics; Westoniella 6 spp. narrow endemic genus of Costa Rica and Panama.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Athroismeae Tribe: Centipeda 1 sp. native to C. Chile.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Bahieae Tribe:Achyropappus 1 sp. of Mexico & Guatemala endemic genus endemic to Guatemala; Espejoa monospecific Mexico + CAM endemic species native Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica; Florestina 2 spp. native to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua; Holoschkuhria monospecific endemic of Peru; Nothoschkuhria monospecific narrow endemic of Bolivia and NW Argentina; Schkuhria 1-2 spp. Native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, C Chile, Uruguay, and Brazil; Thymopsis 2 spp. Narrow island endemics of Bahamas, Cuba, Turks-Caicos Is.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Calenduleae Tribe: Calendula 2 spp. Intro to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina. Dimorphotheca 1-2 spp. intro to El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Bolivia;
Asteroideae Subfamily: Coreopsideae Tribe: Bidens ~70 spp. of cosmopolitan genus native to CAM, Bahamas, Antilles, Trinidad-Tobago, Juan Fernandez Is, Galapagos, tropical SAM S to C Chile, N Argentina; Burnellia 28 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, peru, and Bolivia; Chrysanthellum 4 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize), Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Galapagos, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, N Argentina, inc. 2 narrow endemics of Galapagos; Coreopsis ~35 spp. native Hispaniola, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and intro El Salvador, Costa Rica, Cuba, Uruguay (there were more but were reassigned to Burnellia); Cosmos ~5 spp. former Americas endemic genus native to CAM, Colombia Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, NW Argentina, and C+E Brazil, plus intro to Cuba, Hispaniola, Leeward & Windward Is., Ecuador, N+S Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Paraguay, and subcosmopolitan; Cyathomone monospecific narrow endemic of Ecuador; Dahlia 3-4 spp. former Mexico & N Neo-endemic genus native to CAM and Colombia, and intro Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Leeward Is., and pantropical; Ericentrodea 6 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia; Goldmanella monospecific Mesoamerica endemic spp. native to SE Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras; Heterosperma 9 spp. native to the Dominican Republic, Colombia (1 endemic), Venezuela, Ecuador (1 endemic), Peru (1 endemic), Bolivia, N Chile, and N Argentina, and intro NE Brazil; Hidalgoa 2 spp. Mexico & neoendemic genera native to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru; Isostigma 13 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Koehneola monospecific narrow island endemic of Cuba; Narvalina 2 spp. narrow island endemic genus of Hispaniola; Pinillosia monospecific endemic of Cuba and Hispaniola; Tetraperone monospecific island endemic of Cuba; Thelesperma 1 sp. of mostly NAM-endemic genus with disjunct distribution found in NAM + Argentina and Uruguay.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Eupatorieae Tribe: Acanthostyles 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Argentina, S Brazil, and Uruguay, including 1 endemic of Argentina;Acritopappus 19 spp., narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Adenocritonia 2 spp., narrow N neoendemic genus of Guatemala (1) and Jamaica (1); Adenostemma 14 spp., pantropical genus native to Guatemala (1 endemic), Honduras, Nicaragua (1 endemic), Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil (2 endemic), Ecuador (2 endemic), Peru (1 endemic), Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, and Uruguay, includes 1 Old World sp. intro Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Galapagos; Ageratina ~160 spp., former Americas endemic genus native to CAM (exc. Belize), Bahamas, Greater Antilles (exc. Cayman Is.), Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, and NW Argentina, now intro Bermuda & pantropical; Ageratum 10+ spp., former Americas endemic genus native to CAM, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Cayman Is., Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, N+C+E Brazil, and Bolivia, and now intro. to the Bahamas, Turks-Caicos, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Leeward & Windward Is., Venezuelan Antilles, Trinidad-Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Peru, N Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, S Brazil, and subcosmopolitan; Agrianthus 9 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Alomiella 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of C Brazil; Amboroa 2 spp. narrow W SAM endemics of Peru (1) and Santa Cruz Bolivia (1); Amolinia monospecific Mesoamerica endemic of SE Mexico, Guatemala & Belize; Antillia monospecific narrow single-island endemic of Cuba; Aristeguietia 21 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and C Chile; Arrojadocharis 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Brazil; Ascidiogyne 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Asplundianthus 11 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru; Austrobrickellia 3 spp. C+S SAM endemic genus native to Bolivia, Paraguay, S Brazil (1 endemic), and Argentina; Austrocritonia 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of E+S Brazil; Austroeupatorium 15 spp. former neoendemic genus native Panama S through tropical SAM to N Argentina (exc. Suriname, French Guiana, N Chile), genus now intro to Asia; Ayapana 17 spp. former neoendemic genus native to CAM (exc. Belize, El Salvador), tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and SE Brazil, and intro to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and some pantropical; Ayapanopsis 17 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, NE Brazil; Badilloa 11 spp. NW SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru; Bahianthus monospecific narrow endemic of E Brazil; Barrosoa 11 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, C+E+S Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Bartlettina ~28 spp. native to CAM (exc. Nicaragua), Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and SE Brazil; Bejaranoa 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of E Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina; Bishopiella monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Bishovia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Bolivia (1) and Chaco NE Argentina (1); Brickellia 4 spp. native to CAM, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago, Galapagos, Colombia, Venezuela, N+E+C Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, NW Argentina; Campovassouria 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Campuloclinium 16 spp. mostly neoendemic genus of Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, Uruguay, inc. 11 narrow endemics of Brazil (10), NW Argentina (1), and 1 sp. now intro to Africa; Carminatia 2 spp. S NAM & Mesoamerica genus native to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras; Castanedia monospecific narrow endemic of Colombia; Catolesia 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Brazil; Cavalcantia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of N+NE Brazil; Centenaria monospecific endemic of Peru; Chacoa monospecific E SAM endemic genus of Paraguay, S Brazil, NE Argentina; Chromolaena ~160 spp. native to CAM, Bahamas, Turks-Caicos, Greater Antilles, Leeward & Windward Islands, and tropical SAM S to N Argentina (exc. N Chile), and now intro pantropical; Ciceronia monospecific narrow single-island endemic of Cuba; Condylidium 2 spp. neoendemic genus native to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Islands, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, including 1 narrow endemic of Colombia; Condylopodium 6 spp. endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador; Conocliniopsis monospecific neoendemic genus of Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, NE Brazil; Conoclinium 1 sp. Americas genus native to Cuba; Corethamnium monospecific narrow endemic of Colombia; Critonia 30+ spp. native CAM, Greater Antilles (exc. Cayman Is.), Windward Is., Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, C+S Brazil, Paraguay, N Argentina; Critoniadelphus 2 spp. Mesoamerica endemic genus of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and S Mexico; Critoniella 6 spp. N+W SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Cronquistianthus 23 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Crossothamnus 4 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Dasycondylus 9 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Decachaeta 2 spp. Native to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama; Diacranthera 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Brazil; Dissothrix monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Disynaphia 14 spp. E SAM endemic genera of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and NE Argentina; Eitenia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of C Brazil; Ellenbergia monospecific narrow endemic of Peru; Eupatoriastrum 2 spp. native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; Eupatorina monospecific narrow single-island endemic sp. of Hispaniola; Eupatoriopsis monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Ferreyrella 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Fleischmannia ~70 spp. native to CAM, the Greater Antilles (exc. Cayman Is.), Leeward & Windward Is., Trinidad-Tobago, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Fleischmanniopsis 4 spp. native Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, including 2 narrow endemic spp. of Guatemala (1) and Guatemala + El Salvador (1); Gardnerina monospecific narrow endemic of C Brazil; Gongrostylus 2 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador; Goyazianthus monospecific narrow endemic of C Brazil; Grazielia 12 spp. former E SAM endemic genus of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and NE Argentina; Grisebachianthus 7 spp. narrow single-island endemic genus of Cuba; Grosvenoria 6 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Guayania 5 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, N Brazil; Guevaria 5 spp. narrow endemic genus of Ecuador, Peru; Gymnocondylus monospecific narrow endemic of C Brazil; Gymnocoronis 3 spp. native to Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, N Argentina, and now introduced to Australasia, 2 of the species are native only to Guatemala and Mexico; Gyptidium 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Argentina (1), S Brazil (1); Gyptis 6 spp. E SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, N Argentina, and Uruguay; Hatschbachiella 2 spp. E SAM endemic genus native to Paraguay, N Argentina, SE+S Brazil, and Uruguay; Hebeclinium 28 spp. mostly neoendemic genus native Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Antilles (exc Cayman, Aruba, and Netherlands), tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, NE Argentina, S Brazil; Helogyne 8 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Heterocondylus 15 spp. neoendemic genus from Honduras S through tropical SAM to Bolivia, N Argentina, and S Brazil (exc. Guyana and French Guiana); Hofmeisteria 1 sp. mostly Mexico endemic genus native to Colombia; Hughesia monospecific narrow endemic of Peru; Idiothamnus 4 spp. SAM endemic to Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, NW Argentina, and SE Brazil; Iltisia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Costa Rica and Panama; Imeria monospecific N SAM endemic to Venezuela and N Brazil; Isocarpha 4 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize), Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru; Jaramilloa 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Colombia; Kaunia 10 spp. SAM endemic genus of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and N Argentina; Koanophyllon ~90 spp. Native to CAM, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil, Ecuador, the Galapagos, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Kyrsteniopsis 1 sp. of a mostly Mexican endemic genus native to Guatemala; Lapidia monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Lasiolaena 7 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Brazil; Lepidesmia monospecific endemic native to Colombia, Venezuela, and intro to Cuba; Leptoclinium monospecific narrow endemic of C Brazil; Litothamnus 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Brazil; Lomatozona 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of C Brazil; Lorentzianthus monospecific SAM endemic of Bolivia and N Argentina; Lourteigia 12 spp. N neoendemic genus of Colombia and Venezuela; Macropodina 3 spp. E SAM endemic genus of S+SE Brazil, Paraguay, and NE Argentina; Macvaughiella 3 spp. Mesoamerica endemic genus native to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, including 1 endemic to N CAM; Malmeanthus 3 spp. E SAM endemic genus of S+SE Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and NE Argentina; Mikania ~380 spp. native throughout all of CAM, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and all of tropical/subtropical SAM exc. N Chile, with very high spp. count and endemism in Brazil; Monogereion monospecific narrow endemic of N Brazil; Morithamnus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Brazil; Neocabreria 6 spp. E SAM endemic genus of S+SE Brazil, Paraguay, and NE Argentina; Neocuatrecasia 13 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru and Bolivia; Neomirandea 26 spp. mostly neoendemic genus native to CAM, Colombia, and Ecuador; Nothobaccharis monospecific narrow endemic of Peru; Ophryosporus 42 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, N Argentina, E+S Brazil; Osmiopsis monospecific single-island endemic of Hispaniola; Oxylobus 2 spp. Mostly mexican genus native to Guatemala, Colombia, and Venezuela; Parapiqueria monospecific narrow endemic of N Brazil; Peteravenia 4 spp. mostly Mesoamerican genus native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras (1 endemic), Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; Phalacraea 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of Ecuador and Peru; Phania 3 spp. island endemics of Cuba (2 endemic) and the Dominican Republic; Piqueria 1 sp. mostlyMexican endemic genus native to Costa Rica, Panama, and Hispaniola; Piqueriella monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Planaltoa 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of C Brazil; Platypodanthera monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Polyanthina monospecific neoendemic of Costa Rica S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Praxeliopsis monospecific endemic of Bolivia and C Brazil; Praxelis 19 spp. Former SAM endemic genus native to Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, N Argentina, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, and Venezuela; Prolobus monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Pseudobrickellia 3 spp. Narrow endemic of Brazil; Radlkoferotoma 3 spp. E SAM endemic genus of S Brazil and Uruguay; Raulinoreitzia 3 spp. SAM endemic genus of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil; Santosia monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Scherya monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Sciadocephala 7 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Guyana (1 endemic), Ecuador (2 endemic), Peru (1 endemic), and C Brazil (1 endemic); Semiria monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Siapaea monospecific narrow endemic of Venezuela; Spaniopappus 5 spp. single-island endemic genus of Cuba; Sphaereupatorium monospecific SAM endemic of Bolivia and SE+C Brazil; Standleyanthus monospecific narrow endemic of Costa Rica; Stevia ~130 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize), Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil; Steyermarkina 4 spp. SAM endemic genus of Venezuela and E+S Brazil; Stomatanthes 7 spp. SAM endemic (+3 spp. Native o Africa) native to Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay; Stylotrichium 6 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Brazil; Symphyopappus 13 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru and Brazil (exc. N); Teixeiranthus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Trichogonia 20 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay; Trichogoniopsis 3 spp. Brazil endemic genus (exc. N Brazil); Tuberostylis 2 spp. neoendemic genus of Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador; Uleophytum monospecific narrow endemic of Peru; Urolepis monospecific SAM endemic of Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, Uruguay, and S+SE Brazil; Vittetia 2 spp. Brazil endemic of S+SE Brazil; Zyzyura monospecific narrow endemic of Belize.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Feddeeae Tribe: Feddea is a monospecific narrow endemic that is critically endangered, found only on serpentine soils in eastern Cuba.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Gnaphalieae Tribe: Achyrocline ~40 spp. native to, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and SAM (exc. Suriname, French Guiana, C+S Chile); Anaphalis 1 sp. endemic to C Chile; Antennaria 2 spp. mostly N temperate genus are S SAM endemic of C+S Chile and NW+S Argentina; Belloa 5 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Venezuela (1 endemic), Chile (2 endemic to C Chile); Berroa monospecific SAM endemic of Colombia, Bolivia, NE Argentina, Uruguay; Chevreulia 3 spp. former SAM endemic genus native Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, C+S Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, S+SE Brazil, inc 1 narrow endemic of S Brazil, with rest of the genus endemic to Patagonia; Chionolaena 12 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Chryselium monospecific N+W SAM endemic of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru; Cuatrecasasiella 2 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, NW Argentina; Facelis 3 spp. native to N+C Chile, N Argentina, Paraguay, S Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia; Gamochaeta ~50 native CAM (exc. Belize), Bermuda, Bahamas, Greater Antilles (exc. Cayman Is.), Leeward Is., Juan Fernandez Is., and all of SAM (exc. Suriname, French Guiana); Gnaphaliothamnus 3 spp. native to Guatemala (1 endemic), Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela; Gnaphalium 1-2 spp. cosmopolitan genus native Ecuador, C Chile, and intro to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Cayman Is., Venezuela, Guyana, Paraguay, and Bolivia; Jalcophila 4 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Lucilia 10 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Mexerion 1 sp. mostly Mexican genus native to Guatemala and Costa Rica; Micropsis 5 spp. native to C Chile, Juan Fernández Is., Paraguay, Uruguay, S Brazil, and Argentina; Mniodes 22 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and N Argentina; Pseudognaphalium ~45 spp. Native throughout CAM, plus Hispaniola, Jamaica, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and S+SE Brazil, with high endemism at high altitudes in CAM and the Andes; Psilocarphus 2 spp. of otherwise NAM genus disjunct native to C Chile; Rhodanthe 1 sp. intro Colombia; Xerochrysum 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Cuba.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Helenieae Tribe: Gaillardia 3 spp. native to Argentina (2 narrow endemics), Uruguay, S Brazil, inc. 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Trinidad-Tobago, Bahamas, Cuba, Colombia, Bolivia, and subcosmopolitan; Helenium 3-4 spp. native to Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Cuba, Hispaniola, Chile, N Argentina, Uruguay, intro Trinidad-Tobago, and Peru; Hymenoxys 3 spp. native to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, S Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Heliantheae Tribe: Acmella 28 spp. pantropical genus native to CAM, Bahamas, the Antilles (exc. Cayman, Aruba, and Netherlands), Trinidad-Tobago, Galapagos, most of SAM (exc. N + S Chile), and 1 Asian sp. intro to Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, inc. narrow endemics of Guatemala + Belize (1), N Brazil (2), Ecuador (1), and Galapagos (1); Aldama ~85 spp. native to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, with high endemism in the Brazilian Cerrado and Andean valleys; Ambrosia ~13 spp. native to CAM, the Antilles (exc. Aruba, Netherlands Antilles), the Bahamas, Trinidad-Tobago, and almost all of SAM exc. C Brazil, genus now cosmopolitan; Aspilia ~40 spp. native to Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, and NE Argentina, with the rest of the genus native to Africa; Austroflourensia 12 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru (5 endemics), Bolivia (1 endemic), C Chile, and Argentina, with another 3 narrow endemics in NW Argentina; Baltimora 2 spp. native to CAM, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Netherlands Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay; Blainvillea 2 spp. inc. 1 neoendemic of Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, and the Galapagos and 1 sp. intro to Brazil, with the rest of the genus pantropical; Borrichia 3 spp. native to Honduras, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Turks-Caicos, the Greater Antilles, the Leeward & Windward Islands, and Peru (1 endemic); Calyptocarpus 3 spp. native to CAM, the Bahamas, Cuba, Cayman Is., the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, E+S Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Clibadium 39 spp. native to CAM, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Leeward & Windward Is., Venezuelan Antilles, Trinidad-Tobago, and tropical SAM S to Peru, NW Argentina, Paraguay, and S Brazil; Delilia 2 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, E+S Brazil, Ecuador, Galapagos (1 endemic), Bolivia, and NW Argentina, and intro Cuba; Dendroviguiera 1 sp. endemic to Costa Rica, Panama; Dimerostemma 32 spp. SAM endemic genus of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Echinacea 1 sp. intro to Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Bolivia; Eclipta 4 spp. native to CAM, the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, and SAM, inc. 1 endemic to Colombia and 1 Americas-wide sp. are also intro to the rest of the Greater & Lesser Antilles (exc. Jamaica), Galapagos and now cosmopolitan; Elaphandra 14 spp. neoendemic genus of Panama, Trinidad-Tobago, Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana, N Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia; Electranthera 1 sp. Mexican and CAM endemic genus native Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras; Eleutheranthera 2 spp. native to CAM (exc. El Salvador), Bahamas, Antilles (exc. Aruba, Netherlands), and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, C+S Brazil, inc. 1 narrow endemic of Colombia and other sp. now intro pantropical; Encelia 3 spp. native to Peru (1 endemic), Bolivia, N+C Chile, Galapagos (1 endemic); Eremosis 10 spp. Mexico & neoendemic genus native CAM, Ecuador, NE Brazil, inc 3 narrow endemic spp. of Guatemala (2), Honduras (1); Heiseria 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Helianthus 1-2 spp. Intro to Cuba, Hispaniola, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina; Heliopsis 4 spp. inc. 3 endemics native to CAM (exc. Belize, El Salvador), Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N+SE Brazil; Hymenostephium 14 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize), Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Idiopappus monospecific endemic of Ecuador; Iogeton monospecific narrow endemic of Panama; Jefea 1 sp. endemic to Guatemala; Kingianthus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Ecuador; Lagascea 2 spp. native to CAM (exc. Panama), Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Lantanopsis 3 spp. island endemics of Cuba (1) and Hispaniola (1); Lasianthaea 2 spp. native to CAM and Venezuela, most of genus is endemic to Mexico; Leptocarpha monospecific narrow endemic of C Chile; Lundellianthus 7 spp. native to Guatemela, Belize, El Salvador, and Nicaragua; Melanthera 3 spp. native to CAM, the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to N Argentina (exc. N Chile, Suriname, and French Guiana); Monactis 12 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Montanoa ~8 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru, and intro to NE Argentina; Oblivia 3 spp. N neoendemic genus of Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Otopappus 3-4 spp. native to CAM (exc. Panama), Colombia, and Jamaica; Oxycarpha monospecific endemic genus of Colombia and Venezuela; Oyedaea 24 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru, Bolivia, C+NE Brazil; Pappobolus 37 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Parthenium 4 spp. Native to CAM (exc. El Salvador), SAM (exc. Peru, Chile, and S Brazil), Cuba, Jamaica, and the Lesser Antilles; Pascalia 2 spp. native to Bolivia, Paraguay, N Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina;Perymenium ~12 spp. Native to CAM (exc. Panama), Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Philactis 1 sp. native to Guatemala, mostly Mexican genus; Podachaenium 2 spp. native to CAM (exc. Panama), and Colombia; Podanthus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of C Chile; Rensonia monospecific Mesoamerica genus native Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica; Riencourtia 6 spp. neoendemic genus of Panama, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, and Bolivia; Rojasianthe monospecific narrow endemic of SE Mexico and Guatemala; Rudbeckia 1 sp. intro to Colombia, Bolivia, and Cuba; Salmea 9 spp. Native to CAM, the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles (with 5 single-island endemics of Cuba), Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, peru, Bolivia, C+SE Brazil, Paraguay, and NW Argentina; Sanvitalia 2 spp. native to Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Scalesia 15 spp. narrow endemic genus of the Galapagos; Schizoptera monospecific narrow endemic genus of Ecuador and Peru; Sclerocarpus 2 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, and Venezuela; Simsia 3 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize; inc. 2 CAM endemics), Colombia, Venezuela, E+S Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Sphagneticola 2 spp. native to CAM (exc. El Salvador), the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Bolivia and NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Spilanthes 3 spp. native to Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay (1 endemic), and Brazil, with most of genus been transferred to Acmella, and rest of the genus being pantropical; Squamopappus monospecific Mesoamerican endemic of SE Mexico and Guatemala; Steiractinia 14 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela; Syncretocarpus 3 spp. Peru endemic genus; Synedrella monospecific native of CAM, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and S Brazil; Synedrellopsis monospecific former SAM endemic of Bolivia, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Tetrachyron 2 spp. Mesoamerican endemic genus native to Guatemala, most are in Mexico; Tetranthus 4 spp. Caribbean endemic genus all narrow endemics of the Bahamas (1), the Dominican Republic (2), and Haiti (1); Tilesia 3 spp. neoendemic genus of Cuba, Hispaniola, Costa Rica S to Bolivia, N Brazil, also Paraguay, S Brazil, and NE Argentina; Tithonia 3 spp. native to CAM and introduced throughout the Caribbean, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Trigonopterum monospecific narrow endemic of the Galapagos; Tuberculocarpus monospecific N SAM endemic of Venezuela and N Brazil; Tuxtla monospecific disjunct endemic to Veracruz (Mexico) and Costa Rica; Verbesina 150+ spp. native throughout the Neotropics, exc. N Brazil, Suriname, and French Guiana, inc. 1 sp. now intro subcosmopolitan; Viguiera 10 spp. native to Guatemala (1 endemic), Belize, Honduras, Venezuela (3), Peru (2), N Chile, NW Argentina, and Paraguay (2), and intro to Colombia and Cuba;Wamalchitamia 2 spp. mostly Mexican genus native to Guatemala, Honduras (1 endemic), Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; Wedelia ~130 spp. native to CAM, the Caribbean Islands, and most of SAM exc. Chile, Suriname, and French Guiana; Xanthium 3 spp. Native to Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, E+S Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina, and introduced to Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, N Brazil, and now cosmopolitan; Zexmenia 4 spp. Native to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Bolivia (1 endemic), Paraguay, and N Argentina; Zinnia 2 spp. native to CAM (exc. Costa Rica and Panama where intro), Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and N Argentina and is intro to the Greater Antilles; Zyzyxia monospecific narrow endemic genus of Guatemala and Belize.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Inuleae Tribe: Blumea 1-2 spp. intro to Galapagos and C Brazil;Dittrichia 1 sp. intro C Chile; Epaltes 3 spp. mostly pantropical genus native Guatemala, Leeward & Windward Is., Cuba (1 endemic), N+NE Brazil; Pentanema 1 sp. intro to Colombia; Pseudoconyza monospecific ~pantropical genus native to CAM (exc. Belize), Cuba, the Bahamas, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Pterocaulon ~11 spp. native, many endemic to Andes and Brazillian highlands, native to Nicaragua, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argentina (exc. French Guiana), rest of genus in Australasia; Sachsia 3 spp. Caribbean endemic genus native to the Bahamas, Cuba (2 narrow endemics), Hispaniola, Jamiaca;Stenachaenium 5 spp. E SAM endemic genus of S+SE Brazil (2 endemics), Paraguay, Uruguay, and NE Argentina; Tessaria 5 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, N+S Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, N+C Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Madieae Tribe:Amblyopappus monospecific W. American endemic genus native to N+NC Chile, Juan Fernandez Is.; Eriophyllum 1 sp. endemic to N+C Chile, Juan Fernandez Is, other 13 spp. mostly endemic to W USA; Lasthenia 1 sp. endemic to C+S Chile, S Argentina, most of genus endemic to W USA;Madia 2 spp. native to Chile (1 endemic), NW+S Argentina, most of genus endemic to the W USA.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Millerieae Tribe: Acanthospermum 6 spp. former neoendemic genus native to CAM (exc. Belize) and tropical SAM S to N Argentina (exc. N Chile), Antilles (exc. Aruba, Cayman Is.) and now introduced pantropically; Alepidocline 2 spp. native to Guatemala, Venezuela (1 narrow endemic of Tachira); Alloispermum 9 spp. native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia (2 endemics), Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru (1 endemic); Aphanactis 11 spp. neoendemic genus of Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia; Cymophora 1 sp. endemic to N Venezuela; Desmanthodium 2 spp. endemic to Venezuela (1) and CAM (1) in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras; Espeletia 141 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador; Freya monospecific narrow endemic of Venezuela; Galinsoga 6 spp. Native to CAM (exc. Belize), Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Leeward & Windward Is, Juan Fernandez Is, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, SE+S Brazil, Uruguay, and intro Bahamas, genus now cosmopolitan; Guizotia 1 sp. intro to Costa Rica; Ichthyothere 27 spp. neoendemic genus of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina; Jaegeria 9 spp. Native to CAM (exc. Belize), Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, S Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Lecocarpus 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of the Galapagos; Melampodium 14 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil and intro to Bolivia, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic; Milleria monospecific endemic genus native throughout CAM, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Oteiza 1 sp. endemic to Guatemala, rest of genus is Mexican; Rumfordia 1 sp. native to Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama, most of genus is Mexican; Sabazia ~11 spp. native to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica (1 endemic), Panama, and Colombia (1 endemic); Schistocarpha ~11 spp. Native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Selloa 1 sp. endemic to Colombia, and the other 2 spp. endemic to Mexico; Sigesbeckia 4 spp. inc. 3 native to CAM (exc. Belize), Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Argentina, C+S Chile, and Hispaniola and intro to Guyana, Brazil, and Paraguay, inc. 2 endemic to the Andes; Smallanthus 19 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, E+S Brazil, C Chile, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Stachycephalum 2 spp. endemic to Ecuador (1), Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Tamananthus monospecific narrow endemic of Venezuela; Tridax 8 spp. native to CAM (exc. Honduras), the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, S Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N Argentina; Trigonospermum 2 spp. native to Guatemala and Honduras, most of genus endemic to Mexico.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Neurolaeneae Tribe: Calea ~150 spp. native to CAM, Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, NE Argentina, with almost 60 endemic to Brazil alone; Enydra 4 spp. inc 3 native to Costa Rica, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Venezuela (1 endemic), Ecuador, Peru, NE+S Brazil, NE Argentina, Uruguay, and 1 Old World intro to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, S Brazil, Uruguay; Heptanthus 7 spp. single-island endemic genus of Cuba; Neurolaena 4 spp. Native to CAM (1 endemic to Guatemala), the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, N Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Staurochlamys monospecific endemic to N+NE+C Brazil; Unxia 2 spp. neoendemic genus of Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, N Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Perityleae Tribe: Galeana monospecific native of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia; Perityle 2-3 spp. native to Peru and N+C Chile;Villanova 5 spp. native to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Plucheeae Tribe: Pluchea ~25 spp. pantropical genus native to CAM, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to N Chile and N Argentina (exc. French Guiana).
Asteroideae Subfamily: Senecioneae Tribe: Abrotanella 1 sp. of S Hemisphere genus endemic to the Juan Fernandez Is.; Aequatorium 12 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador; Aetheolaena 27 spp. N+W SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Angeldiazia monospecific endemic of Peru; Antillanthus 17 spp. single-island endemic genus of Cuba; Arbelaezaster monospecific N SAM endemic to Colombia and Venezuela; Barkleyanthus monospecific native in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras; Blennosperma 1 sp. narrow endemic to C Chile, other 2 spp. endemic to California, USA; Cabreriella 2 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia and Venezuela; Caxamarca 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Chaetacalia monospecific narrow endemic of Bolivia; Charadranaetes monospecific narrow endemic of Costa Rica; Chersodoma 11 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Crassocephalum 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico; Culcitium 13 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador (1 endemic), Peru, Bolivia (1 endemic), Chile, and NW Argentina; Curio 1 sp. intro Puerto Rico, Colombia; Delairea 2 spp. inc. 1 endemic to Peru and another a southern Africa intro to Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Uruguay, Juan Fernandez Is.; Dendrophorbium 83 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Leeward & Windward Is., Trinidad-Tobago (1 narrow endemic extinct), Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, S+SE Brazil, N Argentina; Digitacalia 1 sp. endemic to Nicaragua, rest are Mexican; Dorobaea 3 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru; Dresslerothamnus 5 spp. narrow endemic genus of Costa Rica (1), Panama (2), Colombia (1), and another in Costa Rica and Panama; Ekmaniopappus monospecific single-island endemic of Hispaniola; Elekmania 9 spp. single-island endemic genus of Hispaniola; Emilia 4 spp. pantropical genus native to CAM, Greater Antilles (exc. Cayman), Leeward & Windward Is., Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, C Brazil, NE Argentina, and intro Venezuelan Antilles and SE Brazil; Erechtites 2 spp. native to CAM, Bahamas, Antilles (exc. Aruba, Netherlands), tropical SAM S to N Chile, N Argentina; Euryops 1 sp. intro Guatemala;Garcibarrigoa 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Andes of Colombia and Ecuador; Graphistylis 9 spp. narrow endemic genus of S+SE Brazil; Gynoxys 130 spp. SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Gynura 1-2 spp. intro to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Leeward Is, Trinidad-Tobago, Colombia; Haplosticha 3 spp. endemic genus to the Patagonia region, inc. C+S Chile (1 endemic) and S Argentina, 1-3 may extend just into the neozone in C Chile; Herodotia monospecific single-island endemic of Hispaniola; Herreranthus monospecific single-island endemic of Cuba; Hoehnephytum 3 spp. endemic genus of C+E Brazil; Ignurbia monospecific single-island endemic of Hispaniola; Jacmaia monospecific single-island endemic of Jamaica; Jacobaea 1 sp. intro. Cuba, Costa Rica, and Colombia; Jessea 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of Costa Rica and Panama; Kleinia 1 sp. intro to El Salvador; Lasiocephalus 4 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador; Leonis monospecific narrow endemic genus of Cuba and Hispaniola; Lundinia monospecific endemic of Cuba and the Dominican Republic; Mattfeldia monospecific single-island narrow endemic of Haiti; Misbrookea monospecific endemic of Peru and Bolivia; Monticalia 82 spp. neoendemicgenus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru; Nelsonianthus 1 sp. Mesoamerican endemic genus native to Guatemala; Nesampelos 3 spp. single-island endemic genus of Hispaniola; Odontocline 6 spp. single-island endemic genus of Jamaica; Oldfeltia monospecific single-island endemic genus of Cuba; Paracalia 3 spp. endemic genus of Peru and Bolivia; Paragynoxys 12 spp. endemic genus of Colombia and Venezuela; Pentacalia ~145 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize), Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and E+S Brazil, with most endemic to montane Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru; Pericallis 1 sp. intro Colombia; Pittocaulon 1 sp. mostly Mexican endemic genus native to Guatemala; Psacaliopsis 2 spp. native to Guatemala (1 endemic), Honduras, and El Salvador, also in S Mexico; Psacalium 2-3 spp. native to Guatemala; Pseudogynoxys ~15 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and N Argentina and intro to Guyana, Suriname, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Leeward Is. and Puerto Rico; Robinsonecio 1 sp. native to Guatemala, another species is endemic to Mexico; Robinsonia 8 spp. narrow island endemic genus of Juan Fernandez Is.; Roldana ~14 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize) and Colombia; Scrobicaria 3 spp. N SAM endemic of Colombia and Venezuela; Senecio ~180 spp. cosmopolitan genus native to Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil (exc. N), Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina (100+ endemic) with very high levels of local endemism restricted to particular montane or geographic regions; Shafera monospecific single-island endemic genus of Cuba; Talamancalia 2 spp. endemic genus of Costa Rica (1 endemic) and Panama; Telanthophora 7 spp. native to CAM and Colombia; Werneria 47 spp. native to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, NW+S Argentina, with high endemism in Peru and Bolivia; Zemisia 2 spp. native Guatemala, El Salvador, and Jamaica (1 endemic).
Asteroideae Subfamily: Tageteae Tribe:Adenophyllum 1 sp. native to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Cuba; Comaclinium monospecific genus native CAM (exc. Belize); Dyssodia 4 spp. native to Guatemala, and disjunct in Peru (2 endemics), Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Flaveria 3 spp. native to Belize, the Bahamas, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Cayman Is., Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Windward Is., Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, C+NE Brazil, N+C Chile, and Argentina; Harnackia monospecific single-island endemic genus of Cuba; Jaumea 1 sp. endemic to NE Argentina and Uruguay, another species is disjunct in W North America;Lescaillea monospecific single-island endemic of Cuba; Pectis ~50 spp. native throughout CAM, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argenitina (exc. S Brazil), inc. several single- or a few-island endemics in the Caribbean as well as isolated endemic SAM populations; Porophyllum 12 spp. native to CAM, the Bahamas, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to N Chile and N Argentina; Schizotrichia 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Tagetes ~11 spp. Native to CAM (exc. Belize where intro), and neotropical SAM S to C Chile and S Argentina (exc. Guyana, Suriname, and N Brazil where intro and French Guiana where absent), and also intro into the Antilles and now subcosmopolitan; Thymophylla 1 sp. disjunct native (mostly North America) of Argentina.
Barnadesioideae Subfamily: Archidasyphyllum 2 spp. Patagonia endemic genus native to C+S Chile, S Argentina, inc 1 species endemic to C Chile (may extend into neo zone); Arnaldoa 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of Ecuador and Peru; Barnadesia 23 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, C+SE Brazil, and NW Argentina; Chuquiraga 23 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, and Argentina; Dasyphyllum 36 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Doniophyton 2 spp. SAM endemic genus native to N+C Chile and Argentina; Duseniella monospecific narrow endemic of Argentina; Fulcaldea 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Bahia NE Brazil (1 endemic) and Ecuador + Peru (1 endemic); Huarpea monospecific narrow endemic genus of NW Argentina; Schlechtendalia monospecific E SAM endemic genus of NE Argentina, Uruguay, and S Brazil.
Carduoideae Subfamily: Cardueae Tribe: Arctium 1 sp. Eurasian intro NE+S Brazil, Uruguay; Carduus 1-2 spp. intro Bolivia and Uruguay; Carthamus 3 spp. intro to El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba, Juan Fernandez Is, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, S Brazil, Uruguay; Centaurea 4-6 spp. intro to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Cuba, Juan Fernandez Is., Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, S Brazil, and Uruguay; Centaurodendron 3 spp. narrow endemics of Juan Fernandez Is.; Cirsium 2-4 spp. N hemisphere genus native to CAM, the Bahamas, and Colombia and intro to Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Juan Fernandez Is., Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay; Cynara 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Juan Fernandez Is.; Onopordum 1 sp. intro to Uruguay; Plectocephalus 11 spp. nativeto N+C Chile (10 endemics), Paraguay, S Brazil, Uruguay, and NE Argentina, mostly narrow endemics of N (2) and C (5) Chile; Silybum 1 sp. intro Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina; Volutaria 1 sp. intro to C Chile; Yunquea monospecific narrow endemic of Juan Fernandez Is.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Cichoriinae Subtribe: Cichorium 2 spp. intro to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Windward Is., Juan Fernandez Is., Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay;Tolpis 1 sp. intro to Venezuela.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Crepidinae Subtribe: Crepis ~2 spp. intro to Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Juan Fernandez Is.; Lapsana 1 sp. intro to Hispaniola, Jamaica, Juan Fernandez Is., Colombia, Venezuela, and Bolivia; Taraxacum ~4 spp. native to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, S Brazil, C+S Chile, and Argentina and intro to Cuba, the Bahamas, Ecuador, E Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay; Youngia 2 spp. intro to CAM (exc. Belize), the Bahamas and the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guayana, and Paraguay.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hieraciinae Subtribe: Hieracium ~120+ spp. native, with 19 spp. native and largely endemic to high-elevation cloud forests in CAM and Hispaniola, with another ~100 species native to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, C Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina, many of which are endemic to the Andes and Brazilian highlands.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hyoseridinae Subtribe: Launaea 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, Peru, the Bahamas, the Antilles, and Trinidad-Tobago; Sonchus 2-4 spp. intro to CAM, the Bahamas, the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil (exc. N), Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, C Chile, Uruguay, and NE Argentina.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hypochaeridinae Subtribe: Hedypnois 1 sp. intro to C Chile, NE Argentina, and Uruguay; Helminthotheca 1 sp. intro to Uruguay; Hypochaeris ~120 spp. native to Colombia, Venezuela, S+SE Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina, with 80-90% endemic to South America, and 1-2 spp. have been introduced to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, and Jamaica, and a few species are native to Eurasia; Leontodon 1 sp. intro to Haiti; Urospermum 1 sp. intro Uruguay.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Lactucinae Subtribe: Lactuca ~4 spp. native to Guatemala and Hispaniola, and intro to the rest of CAM, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Colombia, Venezuela, S Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, C Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Microseridinae Subtribe: Agoseris 2 spp. native to NW Argentina and C Chile (1 narrow endemic of northern C Chile); Malacothrix 2 spp. disjunct natives of N+C Chile, with rest of the genus in W North America; Microseris 1 sp. disjunct North American species also native to Peru, N+C Chile; Picrosia 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Paraguay, N Chile, S Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina; Pinaropappus 2 spp. native to Guatemala.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Scorzonerinae Subtribe: Pseudopodospermum 1 sp. intro to Puerto Rico;Tragopogon 1 sp. intro to Haiti.
Gochnatioideae Subfamily: Anastraphia 33 spp. Caribbean endemic genus, mostly all single-island endemics of Cuba, Hispaniola, Bahamas, and Turks-Caicos; Cnicothamnus 2 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, NW Argentina, and Paraguay; Cyclolepis monospecific SAM endemic genus of Paraguay, Argentina; Gochnatia 17 spp. neoendemic genus native to Ecuador, Peru (5 endemic), Bolivia (2), C+S Chile (1), Paraguay, Argentina (1), E Brazil (2), and Cuba (1); Moquiniastrum 22 spp. SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, E+S Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Richterago 17 spp. Brazil endemic genus, exc. N Brazil; Vickia monospecific narrow endemic of SE+S Brazil.
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Mutisieae Tribe: Adenocaulon 1 sp. endemic to SE Mexico and Guatemala, rest of genus is North & South America and Asia; Brachyclados 2 spp. S SAM endemic genus native to C Chile and Argentina; Chaetanthera ~29 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru (2 endemic), Bolivia, Chile (~18 endemic), NW+S Argentina; Chaptalia ~30-40 spp. native to CAM, the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles (exc. Cayman Is.), Leeward & Windward Is, Trinidad-Tobago, and tropical SAM S to C Chile and N Argentina (exc. French Guiana and N Chile); Gerbera 1 sp. intro CAM (exc. Belize), Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago, and Colombia; Leibnitzia 1 sp. mostly Asian genus native Guatemala; Lulia monospecific narrow endemic of SE+S Brazil; Mutisia ~62 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Colombia, Venezuela, S+SE Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina; Pachylaena 2 spp. S SAM endemic genus of N+C Chile (1 endemic of N Chile) and NW+S Argentina; Panphalea 10 spp. W SAM endemic to Paraguay, Uruguay, S Brazil, and NE Argentina; Trichocline 23 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Paraguay, N+C Chile, Uruguay, S+SE Brazil, and Argentina.
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Nassauvieae Tribe: Acourtia 3 spp. native Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras; Ameghinoa monospecific endemic to NW and S Argentina; Berylsimpsonia 2 spp. Caribbean endemic genus of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, inc. 1 narrow endemic of Haiti; Cephalopappus monospecific narrow endemic of E Brazil; Criscia monospecific E SAM endemic of NE Argentina, Uruguay, S Brazil; Dolichlasium monospecific endemic of Argentina; Holocheilus 7 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, S+SE Brazil, and N Argentina; Jungia 29 spp. native to Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil (exc N+NE), Paraguay, N Chile, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Leucheria ~33 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, and NW+S Argentina; Leunisia monospecific narrow endemic genus of C Chile; Lophopappus 4 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Marticorenia monospecific narrow endemic of N+C Chile; Moscharia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of C Chile; Nassauvia ~25 spp. native to Bolivia, Chile, NW+S Argentina; Oxyphyllum monospecific narrow endemic of N Chile; Pamphalea 10 spp. E SAM endemic genus of Paraguay, Uruguay, S Brazil, and NE Argentina; Perezia 33 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, S+SE Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina; Pleocarphus monospecific endemic of N+C Chile; Proustia 4 spp. SAM endemic genus native Peru (2 endemic), Chile (1), Bolivia, and N Argentina; Triptilion 3 spp. Chile (2 endemic) + NW Argentina endemic genus; Trixis ~15 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize), the Greater Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil (exc. N), Paraguay, N Chile, Uruguay, and N Argentina.
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Onoserideae Tribe: Aphyllocladus 4 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, C Chile (1 endemic), NW Argentina (2); Chucoa monospecific narrow endemic genus of Peru; Gypothamnium monospecific narrow endemic genus of N Chile; Lycoseris 11 spp. neoendemic genus from Guatemala S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and C Brazil; Onoseris 31 spp. Native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, C Brazil, and NW Argentina and intro to N Brazil; Paquirea monospecific narrow endemic genus of Peru; Plazia 4 spp. W SAM endemic to Peru, Bolivia, N+C Chile, and NW Argentina; Urmenetea monospecific narrow endemic genus of N Chile and NW Argentina.
Stifftioideae Subfamily:Achnopogon 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Venezuela; Duidaea 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of Venezuela; Eurydochus monospecific narrow endemic genus of Venezuela and N Brazil; Glossarion 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Amazonas, Venezuela and Amazonas, N Brazil; Gongylolepis 14 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, N+NE Brazil; Hyaloseris 7 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia and N Argentina; Neblinaea monospecific narrow endemic of Venezuela and N Brazil; Quelchia 4 spp. SAM endemic genus of Guyana and Venezuela; Salcedoa monospecific narrow endemic of the Dominican Republic; Stifftia 6 spp. former Brazilian endemic genus of N+E+S Brazil, also intro in Trinidad-Tobago.
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Arctotideae Tribe: Arctotis 1 sp. introduced to Guatemala, S Brazil, Uruguay, and NE Argentina; Gazania 1 sp. introduced to Bolivia.
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Liabeae Tribe: Austroliabum 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of N Argentina; Bishopanthus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Cacosmia 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of Ecuador (2 endemic) and Peru; Chionopappus monospecific narrow endemic of Peru; Chrysactinium 7 spp. narrow endemic genus of Ecuador and Peru; Dillandia 3 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Erato 5 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia; Ferreyranthus 8 spp. narrow endemic genus of Ecuador and Peru;Liabum 37 spp. mostly neoendemics native to CAM (exc. Belize), Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Colombia, Venezuela, N Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Microliabum 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of Bolivia and NW Argentina; Munnozia 44 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Oligactis 6 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador; Paranephelius 3 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Philoglossa 5 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Pseudonoseris 4 spp. narrow endemic genus of Bolivia and Peru; Sampera 8 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Sinclairia 7-8 spp. native to CAM and Colombia.
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Moquinieae Tribe: Moquinia monospecific narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Pseudostifftia monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil.
Vernonioideae Subfamily: Vernonieae Tribe: Acanthodesmos 2 spp. single-island endemics of Cuba (1) and Jamaica (1); Acilepidopsis monospecific E SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, C+SE+S Brazil, Paraguay, and NE Argentina; Albertinia monospecific narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Anteremanthus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Allocephalus monospecific endemic of C Brazil; Baccharoides 1 sp. intro Jamaica; Blanchetia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Brazil; Caatinganthus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Brazil; Centratherum 3 spp. former SAM endemic genus native to Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and NE Argentina and now intro to CAM (exc. Belize), Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Leeward & Windward Is., Trinidad-Tobago, Galapagos, and pantropical; Chresta 18 spp. SAM endemic genus of Brazil and Bolivia; Chronopappus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil; Chrysolaena 19 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, N Argentina, Uruguay; Cololobus 5 spp narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil; Critoniopsis ~80 spp. native to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, S+SE Brazil; Cyanthillium 1 sp. intro CAM (exc. El Salvador), Antilles (exc. Cayman, Jamaica, Venezuelan), Trinidad-Tobago, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, N+E Brazil, Ecuador;Cyrtocymura 6 spp. neoendemic genus native SE Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti (1 endemic), and tropical SAM S to N Argentina (exc. N Chile), inc. 3 narrow endemics of E Brazil; Dasyandantha monospecific narrow endemic genus of Venezuela; Dasyanthina 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil and Paraguay; Dipterocypsela monospecific narrow endemic genus of Colombia; Echinocoryne 6 spp. narrow endemic genus of N+E+C Brazil; Eirmocephala 3 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, N Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia; Ekmania monospecific narrow endemic genus of Cuba; Elephantopus 14 spp. pantropical genus inc. 13 spp native to CAM, Greater Antilles (exc. Cayman), Leeward & Windward Is, Trinidad-Tobago, and tropical SAM S to N Argentina (exc. N Chile), including 9 narrow endemics of Brazil (7), Cuba (2), and 1 former USA endemic species now introduced in Colombia and Bolivia; Eremanthus 25 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia and N+C+E Brazil; Gorceixia monospecific narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Gymnanthemum 1 sp. pantropical genus native N+C+E Brazil, Bolivia; Harleya monospecific Mesoamerica endemic genus native Guatemala, Belize; Heterocoma 6 spp. narrow endemic genus of E+C Brazil; Heterocypsela 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of N+C+SE Brazil; Hololepis 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil; Huberopappus monospecific narrow endemic genus of Venezuela; Lachnorhiza 3 spp. Single-island endemic genus of Cuba but 1 sp. now intro Myanmar; Lepidaploa 156 spp. mostly neoendemic genus native to CAM, the Bahamas and Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Lepidonia 4 spp. inc 3 endemics native to Guatemala (2) and Costa Rica (1), rest of genus is endemic to Mexico; Lessingianthus 145 spp. Neoendemic genus of Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Lychnophora 33 spp. narrow endemic genus of Brazil (exc. S); Lychnophorella 11 spp. narrow endemic genus of NE Brazil; Maschalostachys 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Mattfeldanthus 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Mesanthophora 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Paraguay, and C+SE Brazil; Minasia 7 spp. narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil; Orthopappus monospecific Mexico and neoendemic native to CAM, Cuba, Jamaica, Leeward + Windward Is., Trinidad-Tobago, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argentina; Pacourina monospecific neoendemic genus native to CAM (exc. Belize) Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, NE Argentina, and N+C+SE Brazil; Paralychnophora 6 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Piptocarpha 53 spp. Tropical Americas endemic native to CAM (exc. El Salvador), Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Piptocoma 18 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, and N Brazil; Piptolepis 21 spp. narrow endemic genus of C+SE Brazil; Prestelia 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil; Proteopsis 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Pseudelephantopus 2 spp. native to CAM, the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N+E Brazil, and NW Argentina; Pseudopiptocarpha 4 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia and Venezuela; Quechualia 4 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, and N Argentina; Rolandra monospecific neoendemic to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Peru, Bolivia, and N+E Brazil; Roquea monospecific narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil; Soaresia monospecific endemic of N+C+SE Brazil; Spiracantha monospecific N neoendemic genus native to CAM, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Venezuela; Stenocephalum 1 sp. mostly SAM genus native to Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and NE Argentina; Stilpnopappus 21 spp. SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Brazil, and Bolivia; Struchium monospecific former neoendemic native to CAM (exc. El Salvador), the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil (exc. C); Telmatophila monospecific narrow endemic of NE Brazil; Trepadonia 2 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru; Trichospira monospecific neoendemic genus native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru, Bolivia, and N+NE+C Brazil; Vernonanthura 67 spp. mostly neoendemic native to CAM, Cuba, Hispaniola, and all of SAM exc. Chile; Vernonia 2-3 spp. native to N Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, E+S+C Brazil; Vinicia monospecific narrow endemic of SE Brazil; Xiphochaeta monospecific N SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Peru, and N+NE+C Brazil.
Wunderlichioideae Subfamily: Chimantaea9 spp. narrow endemic genus of Venezuela; Hyalis 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina; Ianthopappus monospecific narrow endemic genus of NE Argentina, Uruguay, and S Brazil; Stenopadus 15 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, Peru, and N Brazil; Stomatochaeta 6 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Guyana, and N Brazil; Wunderlichia 7 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Brazil (exc. S).
Asteroideae Subfamily: Anthemideae Tribe: Achillea 1 sp. introduced throughout the region, including the Falkland Is.; Anthemis 1 sp. intro to the Falkland Is.; Artemisia 1 sp. endemic to the region; Leptinella 2 spp. endemic to the Patagonia region and the Falkland Islands, but most of the genus is from New Zealand; Soliva ~2 spp. native to the region; Tanacetum 1 sp. introduced throughout the region.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Astereae Tribe: Baccharis 35-40 spp. native throughout Patagonia and the Falkland Islands, including several endemics; Bellis 1 sp. intro to Falkland Is.; Chiliotrichum 3 spp. S SAM endemic genus native throughout Patagonia and Falkland Is., inc. 2 spp. endemic throughout Patagonia; Erigeron ~22 spp. cosmopolitan genus native throughout Patagonia inc. Falkland Is., and inc. several endemics; Grindelia 5-6 spp. native throughout Patagonia, including 2 endemics; Gutierrezia ~7 spp. inc. ~3 endemics native Patagonia; Haplopappus 10 spp. of W+S SAM endemic genus native throughout Patagonia, including 1-2 endemics; Hysterionica 1 sp. C+S SAM endemic genus native to S Argentina; Katinasia monospecifc endemic of NW and S Argentina; Lagenophora 3 spp. Of mostly Australasia genus native endemic to the Patagonia region and the Falkland Is.; Lepidophyllum monospecifc endemic of the Patagonia region; Nardophyllum 2 spp. Native to the Patagonia region of SAM; Noticastrum 4 spp. Native to the Patagonia region; Solidago 1 sp. native to the region; Symphyotrichum 4 spp. Native to the region including the Falkland Is.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Athroismeae Tribe: Centipeda 1 sp. native throughout the region.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Bahieae Tribe: Schkuhria 1 sp. native to S Argentina.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Calenduleae Tribe: Calendula 1-2 spp. intro to Patagonia.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Coreopsideae Tribe: Thelesperma 1 sp. of mostly NAM-endemic genus with disjunct distribution found in NAM + SAM, including S Argentina
Asteroideae Subfamily: Eupatorieae Tribe: Acanthostyles 1 sp. SAM endemic genus native to S Argentina; Austrobrickellia 1 sp. C+S SAM endemic genus native to S Argentina; Mikania 1 sp. Native to S Argentina; Raulinoreitzia 1 sp. SAM endemic genus native to S Argentina; Stevia 1 sp. native to S Argentina;
Asteroideae Subfamily: Gnaphalieae Tribe: Achyrocline 2 spp. native to S Argentina; Anaphalis 1 sp. endemic to S-C Chile at the N end of this zone; Antennaria 1 sp. mostly N temperate genus native throughout Patagonia; Belloa 2 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Patagonia, inc 1 narrow endemic of S-C Chile (may extend into neo zone); Chevreulia 4 spp. former SAM endemic genus native throughout the region and Falkland Is., inc. 3 narrow endemics of Patagonia; Gamochaeta ~9 spp., inc. several endemics, native throughout Patagonia and the Falkland Is.; Gnaphalium ~10 spp., inc. several endemics of a cosmopolitan genus native throughout Patagonia and the Falkland Is.; Micropsis 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Pseudognaphalium 10 spp. native throughout the region, including 2 endemics, but introduced in the Falkland Is.; Psilocarphus 1 sp. of otherwise NAM genus disjunct native to S Argentina.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Helenieae Tribe: Gaillardia 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Helenium 1-2 spp. native to C+S Chile; Hymenoxys 1-2 spp. Native to S Argentina.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Heliantheae Tribe: Acmella 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Aldama 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Ambrosia 1 sp. native throughout the region; Austroflourensia 1 sp. SAM endemic genus of S Argentina; Eclipta 1 sp. native to C+S Chile, now intro cosmopolitan; Helianthus 1 sp. intro throughout the region; Parthenium 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Pascalia 1 sp. native to S Argentina;Verbesina 1 sp. native to S Argentina, also now intro subcosmopolitan; Wedelia 2 spp. native to S Argentina; Xanthium 2 spp. Inc. 1 endemic native to the region.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Madieae Tribe: Lasthenia 1 sp. endemic to C+S Chile, S Argentina, most of genus endemic to W USA; Madia 1 sp. native to Patagonia, most of genus endemic to the W USA.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Millerieae Tribe: Galinsoga 1 sp. native to Patagonia; Sigesbeckia 1 sp. native to S Chile.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Senecioneae Tribe: Abrotanella 7 spp. of S Hemisphere genus endemic to Patagonia region, the Falklands, and the Juan Fernandez Is. and Patagonia, inc. 4 narrow endemics of S Chile (2), S Argentina (1), S Chile & Juan Fernandez Is (1); Acrisione 2 spp. Patagonia endemic genus of C+S Chile, S Argentina; Culcitium 6 spp. SAM endemic genus native throughout Patagonia, inc. 3 endemic throughout the region; Haplosticha 3 spp. endemic genus to the Patagonia region, inc. C+S Chile (1 endemic) and S Argentina; Iocenes monospecific endemic of the Patagonia region; Senecio ~150 spp. with about 50% endemic to the Patagonia region and the Falkland Is.; Werneria 1 sp. native to S Argentina.
Asteroideae Subfamily: Tageteae Tribe: Flaveria 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Tagetes 1 sp. native to S Argentina; Thymophylla 1 sp. disjunct native (mostly North America) of S Argentina.
Barnadesioideae Subfamily: Archidasyphyllum 2 spp. Patagonia endemic genus native to C+S Chile, S Argentina, inc. 1 species endemic to C Chile (may extend into neo zone); Chuquiraga ~8 spp. SAM endemic genus native to S Argentina; Doniophyton 2 spp. S SAM endemic genus native to C Chile and S Argentina; Duseniella monospecific narrow endemic of Argentina, including S. Argentina.
Carduoideae Subfamily: Cardueae Tribe:Carthamus 4 spp. intro throughout Patagonia; Centaurea 1 sp. intro Falkland Is.; Cirsium 2 spp. intro to Patagonia and the Falkland Is.; Silybum 1 sp. intro throughout the region inc. Falkland Is.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Cichoriinae Subtribe: Cichorium 1 sp. intro to the region.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Crepidinae Subtribe: Taraxacum 4 spp. native, inc. 1 endemic, throughout the region and the Falkland Islands.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hieraciinae Subtribe: Hieracium 3 spp. native throughout the region and the Falkland Is., inc 1 endemic.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hyoseridinae Subtribe: Sonchus 1 sp. intro to the Falkland Is.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Hypochaeridinae Subtribe:Hypochaeris ~15 spp. native throughout the region and in the Falkland Is.; Leontodon 1 sp. intro to Falkland Is.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Lactucinae Subtribe: Lactuca 2 spp. intro to S Argentina.
Cichorioideae Subfamily: Cichorieae Tribe: Microseridinae Subtribe: Agoseris 1 sp. native to Patagonia and the Falkland Is.; Malacothrix 1 sp. disjunct native of S Argentina and C Chile, rest of the genus is W North America; Picrosia 1 sp. SAM endemic genus native to S Argentina.
Gochnatioideae Subfamily: Gochnatia 2 spp. mostly neondemic genus native to Patagonia; Cyclolepis monospecific SAM endemic genus native in S Argentina.
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Mutisieae Tribe: Adenocaulon 1 sp. endemic to Patagonia in C+S Chile and S Argentina, with the rest of the genus in the Americas and Asia; Brachyclados 3 spp. S SAM endemic genus native to C Chile and S Argentina (1 narrow endemic); Chaetanthera 7 spp. W SAM endemic genus native throughout Patagonia, inc. ~3 narrow endemics; Eriachaenium monospecific Patagonian endemic of S Chile and S Argentina; Mutisia ~12 spp. SAM endemic genus native to the region, inc. 3-4 endemics; Pachylaena 1 sp. S SAM endemic genus of C Chile and S Argentina; Trichocline 23 spp. SAM endemic genus native to S Argentina.
Mutisioideae Subfamily: Nassauvieae Tribe: Ameghinoa monospecific Argentina endemic of NW+S Argentina; Burkartia monospecific narrow endemic of S Argentina; Calorezia 2 spp. S SAM endemic genus native C+S Chile, S Argentina, inc. 1 endemic; Dolichlasium monospecific endemic of Argentina, inc S; Leucheria ~14 spp. inc. a few endemics native throughout the region inc. the Falklands; Macrachaenium monospecific narrow endemic of S Argentina; Nassauvia 15-20 spp. native throughout the region inc. Falklands, with high local endemism at high elevations; Perezia ~10 spp. SAM endemic genus native throughout the region inc. the Falklands; Proustia 1 sp. SAM endemic genus endemic to C+S Chile; Triptilion 2 sp. Chile + NW Argentina endemic genus native to C+S Chile.
Wunderlichioideae Subfamily: Hyalis 2 spp. SAM endemic genus native to S Patagonia.
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
Cariaga, Kathleen & Pruski, John & Oviedo, Ramona & Anderberg, Arne & Lewis, Carl & Francisco-Ortega, Javier. (2008). Phylogeny and Systematic Position of Feddea (Asteraceae: Feddeeae): a Taxonomically Enigmatic and Critically Endangered Genus Endemic to Cuba. Systematic Botany. 33. 193-202. 10.1600/036364408783887348. Compositae Working Group (CWG) (2026). Global Compositae Database. Accessed at https://www.compositae.org/gcd on 2026-06-05. doi:10.14284/411 **This is the global authority on the Asteraceae family making it a good source.
FNA 1993+. Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
Kilian N (2024). Cichorieae Systematics Portal. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin. Checklist dataset: https://doi.org/10.15468/gzcrwf accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-06-30. APG defers to Compositae on the Asteraceae, but Compositae is not the most current on the Cichorieae tribe; for that, refer to this source.
Mandel, J.R., Dikow, R.B., Siniscalchi, C.M., et al. (2019). A fully resolved backbone phylogeny reveals numerous dispersals and explosive diversifications throughout the history of Asteraceae. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. 2009+. Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO 2019+. Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed 2020-current. This is the site we defer to when recording numbers of Asteraceae species.
USDA, NRCS. 2020+. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; Accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
5 Jul, 2026
2 Jun, 2026
How to Identify the Orchidaceae or Orchid Family
Calypso bulbosa, a native widespread orchid often found in northern climates like this one from Canada Page Last Updated September 8, 2026
Introduction to the Orchidaceae Family
Welcome to the Orchidaceae family! This is the largest plant family in the world, filled with countless beautiful and bizarre flowers. Long ago when I, and probably most people, thought of orchids, I always pictured the large tropical species that people grow in orchid clubs and you find at the garden stores.
But then, years ago, as I was learning about plant families, I was surprised by how many Orchidaceae lived in the cold Canadian north, like the always beautiful Calypso bulbosa of the Epidendroideae subfamily. Sure, the tropics, especially the neotropics, have more diversity, but you can find them literally almost everywhere, except Antarctica. That’s how common orchids really are!
Beginner’s Guide to the Orchid (Orchidaceae) Family
If you’re new to plant morphology, this simple guide is a perfect beginner’s description for learning to identify the Orchidaceae family, with no need to know any complicated scientific jargon (but there’s plenty far below if you want some!).
Below this section, you will find additional information on uses and wildlife values, as well as morphology photos to help you identify the Orchidaceae family, followed by pictures of individual Orchidaceae species found in North America. But for researchers or those wanting to learn a more in-depth version, refer to the Scientific Botanical Descriptionbelow the images for highly detailed scientific descriptions and genus-level distribution data.
Leaves and Stemsof the Orchid Family
Plants of the Orchidaceae are always perennial herbs, usually from some kind of storage root (rhizomes, tubers, corms, etc.) that come in a huge array of sometimes bizarre forms. They are often epiphytes living on trees in the rainforests but may be self-supporting or climbing (some Vanilloideae). They may have well-developed leaves, a single leaf, or no leaf at all, and instead rely on soil fungi for nutrients or occasionally use their stems for photosynthesis. When present, leaves are simple with entire margins (not toothed), of various shapes, and always have parallel veins. The leaves are evergreen or deciduous (especially Orchidoideae).
Flowersof the Orchid Family
The Orchidaceae are almost always hermaphrodites, with male (stamens) and female (ovary, stigma, and style) parts in the same flower. The flowers usually make this enormous family easy to identify because of a unique feature called the labellum. The flowers are in parts of 3, with 2 whorls, which may be interpreted as tepals or petals and sepals when the outer whorl is green. However, the inner middle tepal/petal is modified, usually enlarged and of a different color, forming the labellum that is twisted as it develops so it appears on the bottom. It acts as a landing strip for pollinators, often with colors, bumps, and hairs that help guide them in. The labellum is also often spurred with a nectar spur and may be variously shaped, sometimes forming a bag or being lobed.
Reproductive Featuresof the Orchid Family
All Orchidaceae have an ovary that is almost always inferior (attached below the point of tepal/petal attachment) and has 3 chambers (carpels). There is only 1 style and one stigma, which is usually 3-lobed, with the middle lobe modified to form a physical barrier that sits between the anther cap and the stigma to prevent self-pollination. The Orchidaceae have 3 male parts in their flowers, usually 1 fertile stamen and 2 infertile staminodes, that are almost always fused with the style to form a central column topped with the anther cap.
Fruitsof the Orchid Family
Fruits in the Orchidaceae are almost always dry capsules that split open when mature, releasing usually hundreds of seeds so tiny they are often referred to as ‘dust seeds’ because they are so light that they can be carried by the wind without needing a pappus or wings. This is because the seeds have no endosperm—the nutritious part of most seeds of flowering plants—making them especially light but also highly dependent on soil fungi for germination and growth.
Morphology of Orchidaceae in North America
First, here is a grid showing some of the common plant and leaf forms, floral arrangements, and fruit types. Below we will dive into more on the unique Orchidaceae flowers.
Next, here are photos of the flowers themselves showing some of the unique floral features you will encounter in this beautifully bizzare plant family.
Some Species of Orchidaceae Found in North America
So far in North America, I have only had the privilege of documenting the Cypripedioideae, the Epidendroideae, and the Orchidoideae subfamilies. While I have not yet ‘discovered’ the Vanillioideae subfamily, it actually occurs as far north as Canada, and when I come across any members of that subfamily, I will be sure to add a pic!
Cypripedioideae Subfamily
Cypripedium acaule—Pink Lady’s Slipper
This distinctive wild Orchidaceae is native throughout eastern North America and is easily recognized by its single large pink pouch-shaped flower and two broad basal leaves with parallel veins that grow from the ground (stemless). I found this one growing in a moist, mixed forest in Allatoona Creek, Georgia, USA.
Cypripedium acaule—Pink Lady’s Slipper
And one more picture just because I love this particular Orchidaceae so much; here is a close-up of that unique pouch-shaped flower designed to act like a maze for pollinators, temporarily trapping them inside before escaping to find another flower, thus ensuring pollination.
Epidendroideae Subfamily
Calypso bulbosa—Fairy Slipper or Calypso Orchid
The Fairy Slipper is a delicate Orchidaceae member with a single pink or magenta flower with a pouch-like lip with yellow and white hairs. It grows from a corm and produces a single oval leaf that may persist over winter. This orchid is a common north temperate species found in northern North America, Europe, and Asia. I found this one in a moist, undisturbed forest near Edgewood, BC, Canada.
Corallorhiza mertensiana—Pacific Coralroot
This leafless orchid lacks chlorphyll and instead relies on soil fungi for its nutrients. It can be identified by its pale yellow to somewhat purplish flowering stem and clusters of small Orchidaceae flowers that are often marked with reddish or purplish spots. This Orchidaceae member is native to western North America from Alaska south through BC, Canada, and the Pacific Northwest of the USA south to California. This one was in Squamish, BC, Canada.
Corallorhiza striata var. striata—Striped Coralroot
This species is another leafless Orchidaceae from coral-like rhizomes (roots—where the genus gets its common name). This one can be recognized by its larger, showier flowers with distinctive dark purple stripes on the tepals. This one is native to southern Canada, the western USA, and south into Mexico. This lovely specimen was found in Edgewood, BC, Canada.
Tipularia discolor—Crane-Fly Orchid
This unique Orchidaceae has small green flowers on a leafless stalk that appears and then disappears before its single leaf, which appears in fall and persists through winter. It is best known for its ‘discolor’ leaves, which are green on top and a vibrant purple below. This photo is of two specimens, showing the upper and lower leaf surfaces; they were observed at Red Mountain State Park in Georgia, USA. They are native to eastern North America.
This evergreen Orchidaceae was the first one I discovered as a child in coastal British Columbia. I learned as a teenager that it was an orchid, which I found absolutely fascinating since I always thought orchids were tropical. It’s best identified by the evergreen rosette of green leaves marked with white or silvery veins. This orchid was found along In-Suchk-Ch Forest Services Rd. near Pemberton, BC, Canada.
Orchidoideae Subfamily
Spiranthes vernalis—Spring Ladies’ Tresses
This slender terrestrial Orchidaceae member is one of the Ladies’ Tresses orchids known for their spiral arrangements of fragrant white flowers that twist around the stem. It has narrow basal leaves, which may or may not persist when in flower. What differentiates it from others of its genus is that it blooms in the spring instead of summer. This lovely wildflower is native mostly to the eastern USA, into southeastern Canada, and south into Mexico. I found this one blooming at Yellow Rose Canyon Camp in Texas, USA.
Platanthera brevifolia—Short-Flowered Bog Orchid
The Platanthera is a group of bog orchids known to thrive in bogs and moist soils. The short-flowered bog orchid stands out for its noticeable nectar spur, a common feature of the genus, but this one is particularly prominent. It’s also typically shorter than other bog orchids, which may be because it is adapted to grow in localized wet areas in otherwise dry, arid landscapes. This one was found growing high in the mountains above the Chihuahua Desert in sunny southern New Mexico.
Platanthera dilatata—Tall White Bog Orchid
This beautiful tall white bog orchid is easy to recognize by its dense spike of sweet-scented (reminiscent of vanilla or clove) white flowers, which are pollinated by moths and can grow over a meter tall. It has several lance-shaped leaves along its lower stem, and true to its name, it’s found in wetlands, marshes, wet meadows, and riparian areas throughout western and northern North America. This Orchidaceae member was found in a wet mountain meadow outside of Kamloops, BC, Canada.
Uses of the Orchidaceae
Many tropical Orchidaceae serve as ornamentals, and there are just far too many to list here. Many growers and enthusiasts around the world focus on orchids, including hundreds of orchid clubs and societies that grow rare orchids.
But please, if you collect and grow the Orchidaceae, buy from reputable collectors who propagate themselves, and please, NEVER harvest from the wild. Flowers should almost never be wild-collected, but especially orchids—they often depend on complex relationships with fungi and often do not survive transplanting! Illegal harvests and very high rates of endemism are just two of the many, many reasons this family contains more critically endangered plants than any other plant family in the world, by proportion, not number, since it’s also the largest family in the world!
Perfumers also frequently analyze the scents of many members of the Orchidaceae and use them for fragrance chemicals.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of Orchidaceae
Orchidaceae plants around the world are critical components of ecosystems, often seen as crucial environmental indicator species due to their dependence on specific mycorrhizal fungi for both germination and early development, as their tiny seeds lack endosperm and they rely on very specific pollinators to pollinate their flowers. This is why their decline is often considered an early warning sign for broader biodiversity loss, like what is happening all over the neotropics right now, with countless species disappearing before scientists can even properly describe them.
Many Orchidaceae are epiphytes that grow on trees without harming them. In fact, they create root networks that help the trees retain moisture and trap nutrients intercepted from rain and leaf litter. This creates microhabitats for countless invertebrates, some of which the orchids may be completely dependent on for their pollination and survival.
Taxonomy of the Orchidaceae Family
Orchidaceae is the largest plant family in the world. It is part of the Asparagales order of the monocot clade, and it has ~30,543 species currently described in ~880 genera.
In recent years, advances in molecular phylogenetics clarified the relationships of this unique family, causing the number of genera to expand and then reduce. However, the Orchidaceae family is in constant flux as new studies clarify the relationships. This process takes time, especially in the Neotropics, which have incredibly high rates of endemism and likely underestimated numbers of genera and species.
Many species are extremely limited geographically and are critically endangered, facing extinction before accurate data can even describe them. While major advances have occurred in the last 10 years or so, we still need to do much more work on the Orchidaceae family.
The 5 Subfamilies of the Orchidaceae
ApostasioideaeSubfamily
Apostasioideae are a small subfamily with 2 genera of rhizomatous plants, with roots that have scattered tubers and often wire-like rootlets. There are conical SiO₂ bodies found in bundle sheath cells; the leaves are spiral, with plicate vernation. Flowers are typically not resupinate and have apiculate, keeled tepals, often with a prominent midrib. They are mostly found in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.
Genera of the ApostasioideaeSubfamily
Apostasia (8), Neuwiedia (8).
CypripedioideaeSubfamily
Cypripedioideae is a small subfamily of 5 genera that are widespread in the mostly warm but also cool temperate northern hemisphere. They are epiphytic or epilithic plants with roots with persistent hairs. Flowers are typically not resupinate; the outer tepals are open, and the 2 abaxial tepals of the outer whorl are connate, with a saccate labellum. There are 2 stamens as the lateral members and one single, median, conspicuous staminode in the outer whorl.
Epidendroideae is the largest subfamily, with 650 genera in 16 tribes found more or less worldwide but mostly pantropical, except Australia, which has low diversity. Plants are fleshy; roots typically have tiny pores, aiding in gas exchange. Many are epiphytes, holomycoheterotrophic, and mycoheterotrophic. There are bicellular mucilage-secreting floral hairs; stomata are often paracytic; leaves are unifacial, terete, or isobifacial, often articulated and deciduous above a sheathing base. The anther is bent forwards with a beak, operculate.
Orchidoideae is a large subfamily with 204 genera found virtually worldwide, especially in temperate areas but also in tropical areas. Their roots are typically fleshy rhizomes and often contain no tubers. Leaves and stems rarely have sclerenchyma; leaves are spiral, soft, and herbaceous. Anthers are erect and incumbent, with acute apexes; staminodes of the inner whorl are reduced.
Vanilloideae is a subfamily of 16 largely pantropical genera, some extending into the temperate zone. They are glabrous plants with sclerenchyma in leaves and reticulate venation, often with a calyculus. The tepals are often keeled; the androecium is made of 1 median abaxial member of the outer whorl, with the 2 lateral members in the inner whorl being staminodes. Anthers are characteristically bent forward by massive expansion of the apical column/connective.
The Orchidaceae are easily distinguished from all other plants, as they usually share some very evident derived characteristics or synapomorphies. Among these are zygomorphic flowers, many resupinate flowers, a nearly always highly modified petal (labellum), fused stamens and carpels, and extremely small seeds. There are many epiphytes, and many/most have highly specialized pollination mechanisms that have evolved for very specific pollinator species. In the past, I would have said the only family it might be confused with is the Cypripediaceae, but those are now included as the subfamily Cypripedioideae.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Orchidaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Orchidaceae Family
The Orchidaceae is a family of perennial herbs from corms, rhizomes, tubers, or pseudobulbs with or without a basal aggregation of leaves. They come in a diverse array of forms that are often epiphytic but may be self-supporting terrestrials or climbing (many Vanilloideae). Orchidaceae may be normal herbs or switch plants (the principal photosynthesizing function is transferred to stems that may or may not be succulent (cactoid)) and may have only a single leaf or no leaves at all. They may also sometimes be achlorophyllous, or neotenic, or may even be entirely subterranean (Rhizanthella). Plants are helophytic, mesophytic, or xerophytic; they are autotrophic or parasitic but initially endomycorrhizal as a protocorm, usually subsequently becoming ectomycorrhizal mycoheterotrophs, and may or may not photosynthesize.
Leaves are persistent or deciduous (commonly Orchidoideae), small to large (sometimes absent), and are usually arranged in an alternate spiral or distichous pattern but may rarely be opposite or whorled. Leaves are flat, folded, rolled, or terete and may be herbaceous, leathery, fleshy, or membranous in texture. They are imbricate or not but are usually petiolate, except sometimes in Cypripedioideae, which may sometimes have sessile leaves. Leaves are always sheathing with tubular sheaths and have blades borne edgewise to the stem or normally oriented.
Orchidaceae leaves are always simple, often jointed at the base of the blade. The lamina is entire and linear, lanceolate, oblong, or ovate with parallel veins and usually cross-venulate. The lamina may be auriculate, cordate, hastate, sagittate, attenuate, cuneate, oblique, or rounded at the base. Lamina margins are almost always entire. Vernation is conduplicate, plicate, or convolute. The mesophyll often contains crystal raphides.
Flowers of the Orchidaceae Family
Inflorescences and Sexuality of the Orchid Family
Orchidaceae members are almost always hermaphrodites and frequently have floral nectaries with secretion from the perianth or from the gynoecium as well as extrafloral nectaries. However, Cypripedioideae rarely have nectaries and rely on deceptive pollination traps instead. Pollination is mostly entomophilous, with mechanisms that are often conspicuously specialized and have complex morphological adaptations that have evolved to the behavior of very specific pollinators and may involve hygroscopic movements of pollinia.
Flowers are solitary or aggregated in terminal or axillary panicles, racemes, spikes, heads, or umbels and may or may not have scapes.
Flowers of the Orchidaceae
The flowers are small to large, fragrant or odorless, and very irregular, with the irregularity involving the perianth and the androecium. They are typically zygomorphic, with the inner median member being generally enlarged and different in color, forming the characteristic labellum that is posterior (adaxial) in origin but usually appearing anterior (abaxial) through torsion of the pedicel; they are usually resupinate, making identification easy, but some are not.
Orchidaceae flowers are 3-merous and cyclic, usually with a perianth of tepals, but occasionally the outer members are green and appear to have a distinct calyx and corolla. The perianth has 6 parts in 2 whorls, free or joined, with two or more tepals that are often coherent at the base and sometimes adherent to the gynoecium. They are petaloid or sepaloid and petaloid and occasionally are spotted. They may be interpreted as tepals or sepals and petals, but both the inner and outer whorls have 3 parts, which may be free, partially connate, or connate.
The labellum is often spurred and often serves as a reservoir for nectar. It is usually a different color than the rest of the tepals and is often hairy, with hairs of various colors. It may be undivided or lobed (especially in Calanthe species), flat or bag-shaped, convex or concave, and generally directed downwards.
In the Cypripedioideae, the lateral petals are often much larger than the other tepals, and the labellum is characteristically slipper-shaped, an easy way to identify this Orchidaceae subfamily.
Androecium of the Orchidaceae Family
The Orchidaceae all have 3 members of the androecium that are nearly always fused with the style to form a gynostemium, except in rare cases when the anthers and stigma are sessile. They are also adnate to the perianth via the fusion of the tepals and the gynostemium. The androecium is 1 adelphous with 1 stamen ending in an often conspicuous anther cap that covers the mass of pollinia and two staminodes located inside, interpreted as the inner whorl. The structure is located opposite the labellum. Anthers are usually with filaments but may be sessile; they are dorsifixed to basifixed, dehiscing via longitudinal slits, introrse, tetrasporangiate, and appendaged or unappendaged.
Cypripedioideae are similar, but their members are free of the perianth but still form a gynostemium that is thicker and inflexed. They have 2 stamens opposite the labellum and one staminode that is non-petaloid and shield-like. The anthers also dehisce via longitudinal slits, but they are latrorse rather than introrse.
Gynoecium of the Orchidaceae Family
Orchidaceae members have a syncarpous gynoecium that is almost always inferior. They have 3 carpels, isomerous with the perianth, with the odd carpel anterior to the labellum. There is 1 style that is inflexed, terminal, and has a stylar canal present. There is only 1 stigma that is 3-lobed but modified so that the apex of the median lobe forms the rostellum (which forms a physical barrier between the pollinia and receptive stigma to prevent self-pollination), which sits between the anther cap and the stigma; they are wet type, papillate, and Group III type. Placentation is almost always parietal. The ovary is 1-locular with ovules not differentiated, with 30–1500+ ovules per carpel that are non-arillate, anatropous, bitegmic (usually) or unitegmic, and tenuinucellate. However, in Cypripedioideae, the ovary is occasionally 3-locular, and when it is, placentation will be axile.
Fruit of the Orchidaceae Family
Fruits in the Orchidaceae family are usually non-fleshy, dehiscent loculicidal, or occasionally septicidal capsules, but they are rarely a fleshy indehiscent berry (some Vanilloideae). Fruits are many-seeded with usually tiny, thin-walled, wind-dispersed seeds, but they may be larger and crustose in some Vanilloideae, where they are dispersed by grazing animals. The seeds are always non-endospermic or barely endospermic (development arrested early), which is why the Orchidaceae family is so dependent on soil fungi for germination and early growth to supply the necessary nutrients. There is no perisperm absent.
Distribution of the Orchidaceae
The Orchidaceae is a cosmopolitan family found from frigid (rare) to tropical zones, where it is by far the most abundant. In the Americas, the family is widely distributed throughout Canada and the USA, including the Arctic. Orchidaceae are particularly abundant in Mexico and especially the Neotropics, with each showing very high rates of endemic species. However, it is not well represented in the southern temperate Patagonia region of the Americas, but there are still some Orchidoideae represented there.
Distribution of the Orchidaceae in the Americas
Canadian Orchidaceae Genera
Surprisingly, Canada has a number of native Orchidaceae found throughout the country, with all 4 of the most common subfamilies found there.
Cypripedioideae in Canada
Cypripedium 12 spp. native to all of Canada, including the Arctic, but possibly excluding Labrador.
Epidendroideae in Canada
Aplectrum 1 sp. native to ON, QC; Arethusa monospecific E NAM endemic sp. native to most of Canada, including the Arctic, but excluding BC, YT, and NU; Calopogon 1 sp. native to MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, and NL (exc. Labrador); Calypso monospecific N temperate species native to most of Canada, including the Arctic, but excluding Labrador and PE; Cephalanthera 1 sp. native to BC; Corallorhiza 5 spp. native to all of Canada, including the Arctic (and Greenland); Epipactis 2 spp. native to BC, introduced to MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, and NL (exc. Labrador); Hammarbya monospecific N temperate species native to BC E to ON, plus YK and NWT; Isotria 2 spp. native to ON; Liparis 2 spp. are native to most of Canada, including the Arctic, but exclude YT, NU, and Labrador; Malaxis 4 spp. native to most of Canada, including the Arctic, but excluding NU; Neottia 8 spp. native to all of Canada, including the Arctic (and Greenland); Triphora 1 sp. native to ON.
Orchidoideae in Canada
Coeloglossum (or syn. Dactylorhiza) 1 sp. native in most of Canada, including the Arctic, but excluding NU and PE; Dactylorhiza 1 sp. intro in ON and NL (excluding Labrador); Galearis 2 spp. are native in most of Canada, including the Arctic, but excluding PE, NS, and Labrador; Goodyera 4 spp. native to all of Canada, including the Arctic; Platanthera 31 spp. native to all of Canada, including the Arctic (and Greenland);Pseudorchis 1 sp. native to QC, NL (exc. Labrador), and Greenland; Spiranthes 14 spp. native to all of Canada, including the Arctic.
Vanillioideae in Canada
Pogonia 1 sp. native to MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL (excluding Labrador).
USA Orchidaceae Genera
Being further south, the USA naturally has a higher diversity of Orchidaceae than Canada, especially in the Epidendroideae subfamily, which is especially abundant in the neotropics.
Cypripedioideae in the USA
Cypripedium 15 spp. native to all of the USA, including AK but excluding NV and FL.
Epidendroideae in the USA
Aplectrum monospecific E NAM endemic to most of E USA from MN S to LA and all E exc. LA, FL, RI, NH; Arundina 1 sp. intro HI; Arethusa monospecific E NAM endemic sp. native to MN, WI, IL, IN, OH, MI, PA, SC, NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH, ME; Bletia 4-8? spp. native to SE USA from AZ E to FL and N to KS E to MD (from POWO, USDA only lists 3 spp. in FL); Bletilla 1 sp. intro KY, FL; Brassia 1 sp. native to FL; Bulbophyllum 1 sp. native FL; Calopogon 5 spp. native to most of E USA from MN, S to LA and all states E plus KS, OK, TX; Calypso monospecific N temperate species native to WA, OR, CA, ID, MT, WY, UT, CO, AZ, NM, SD, MN, WI, MI, NY, VT, NH, ME; Campylocentrum 1 sp. native to FL; Corallorrhiza 7 spp. native to all of the USA, including AK; Cymbidium 1 sp. intro HI; Cyrtopodium 2 spp. native and intro to FL; Cephalanthera 1 sp. native WA, OR, ID, CA; Encyclia 2 spp. native and intro in HI; Epidendrum 10 spp. native and intro to LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, intro to HI; Epipactis 3 spp. intro and native to most of the USA exc ND, NE, KS, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC; Eulophia 1 sp. native to FL; Galeandra 1 sp. native to FL; Govenia 1 sp. native to S FL; Hagsatera 2 spp., including 1 endemic to SW+C Mexico; Hammarbya monospecific N temperate species native to MN and AK; Isotria 2 spp. native to TX, OK, MO, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, KY, TN, IL, IN, OH, MI, WV, VA, MD, DE, PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH, ME; Laelia 1 sp. intro FL; Lepanthopsis 1 sp. native to FL; Liparis 5 spp. are native in most of the USA and HI but exclude OR, CA, NV, ID, WY, CO, UT, AZ, NM, TX, LA, and MS; Listera (~ Neottia?) 8 spp. native to most of the USA, inc. AK but exc. ND, NE, KS, IA, MO, IL, IN; Macradenia 1 sp. native to FL; Malaxis 11 spp. native to most of the USA, inc. AK, but exc. WA, OR, ID, MT, ND, SD, NE, WY, NV, UT; Maxillaria 2 spp. native to FL; Oncidium 1 sp. native to FL; Polystachya 1 sp. native to FL; Prosthechea 3 spp. native to FL; Restrepiella 1 sp. native to FL; Sotoa monospecific, endangered, endemic to Mexico and SW TX; Spathoglottis 1 sp. intro FL, HI; Tamayorkis 2 spp. native to AZ, NM; Tetramicra 1 sp. native to FL; Tipularia 1 sp. native to TX, OK, MO, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, KY, TN, IL, IN, OH, MI, WV, VA, MD, DE, PA, NJ, NY, CT; Tolumnia 1 sp. native to FL; Trichocentrum 1 sp. native to FL; Triphora 5 spp. native to most of the E USA from ND S to TX and all E except ND, SD, MN, RI; Tropidia 1 sp. native to FL; Vanda 1 sp. intro HI.
Orchidoideae in the USA
Anoectochilus 1 sp. native to HI; Beloglottis 1 sp. native to FL; Cranichis 1 sp. native to FL; Cyclopogon 1 sp. native to FL; Dactylorhiza 2 spp. native to most of the USA, including AK, but excluding OR, ID, CA, NV, KS, OK, TX, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, and NC; Deiregyne 1 sp. native to TX; Dichromanthus 1 sp. native to AZ and TX; Eltroplectris 1 sp. native to FL; Galearis 1 sp. native to most of the E USA from MN S to LA, exc. LA, FL, and inc. NE, KS, OK; Goodyera 4 spp. native in most of the USA, inc. AK but exc. NV, ND, KS, TX, LA; Ionopsis 1 sp. native to FL; Gymnadenia 1 sp. intro to CT; Habenaria 5 spp. native to TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, and HI; Mesadenella 1 sp. native to S Mexico and Ver; Mesadenus 1 sp. native to FL; Microchilus 1 sp. native to LA, FL; Microthelys (~Funkiella) 1 sp. native to NM; Pelexia 1 sp. native to FL; Platanthera 51 spp. native to all of the USA, including AK and HI; Pleurothallis 1 sp. native to FL; Ponthieva 2 spp. native to TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, TN, SC, NC, VA; Prescottia 1 sp. native to FL; Sacoila 1 sp. native to FL; Schiedeella 1 sp. native to AZ, NM, TX; Spiranthes 30 spp. native to all of the USA, including AK; Stenorrhynchos 3 spp. native to AZ, TX, FL; Zeuxine 1 sp. intro to TX, LA, AL, GA, FL, and HI.
Vanilloideae in the USA
Cleistes 2 spp. native to TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, KY, TN, WV, VA, MD, DE, and NJ (from USDA; POWO says Neo only); Cleistesiopsis 3 spp. endemic genus of SU USA native to LA, E to FL, and N to VA, MD, and extinct in DE; Dendrophylax 1 sp. native to FL; Pogonia 1 sp. native to most of E USA from ND S to TX and all E exc SD, NE, KS, and IA; Vanilla 7 spp. native and intro FL.
Mexico Orchidaceae Genera
Mexico has well over 1,000 species of orchids, with rates of endemism at around 40% of all the species found there. Here they are broken into subfamilies.
Cypripedioideae in Mexico
Cypripedium 4 spp. native throughout C+S Mexico; Mexipedium is monospecific and narrowly endemic to Oax; Phragmipedium 1 sp. native to Chiapas.
Epidendroideae in Mexico
Acianthera 18-20 spp. native, including ~6 endemics, found in most of Mexico except the NW, also on Socorro Island; Acineta 4 spp., including 2 endemics native to SW+C+SE Mexico and Ver; Alamania monospecific endemic Jal, Mch, Oax, Qro, SLP; Anathallis 5 spp. native to SW+C+SE Mexico and Ver, including 2 endemics; Andreettaea 1 sp. native to SW+SE Mexico and Ver; Arpophyllum 3 spp. native to most regions of Mexico except the NW, including 1 endemic to the country; Artorima monospecific narrow endemic of Gro, Oax; Arundina 1 sp. intro to Mor, Tab, Ver; Barbosella 1 sp. native to S Mexico and Ver; Barkeria 14 spp. of epiphytes and lithophytes found in W Mexico from Sin S through Mex to Chp, including 4 narrow endemics of Nay, Oax (2), and Mch; Bifrenaria 2 spp. native to SW+SE Mexico; Bletia ~40 spp., inc. ~5 endemics in most of Mexico exc. N deserts of Chi, Coa, Dgo, Son, and BCN; Brassavola 2 spp. native to most E Mexico from Tam and SLP SE to Yuc and S to Chp, plus Jal, Nay, and S Son; Brassia 4 spp. native from Gto S to Chp and SE to Cam; Bulbophyllum 3-5 spp. native to S+C Mexico and Ver; Calanthe 1 sp. native to Chp, Hgo, NL, SLP, Tam, Ver; Campylocentrum 8 spp. native to Cam, Jal, Pue, Oax, Tab, Ver; Catasetum 2-5 spp. native throughout Mexico, including 1 endemic; Caularthron 1 sp. native to SE Mexico; Chysis 3 spp. native to E Mexico from Qro to Ver and Oax to Chp; Clowesia 4 spp. native to W Mexico from Sin S to Chp and SE to Cam, including 2 endemics; Cochleanthes 1 sp. native to SE Mexico; Coelia 5 spp. native at high elevations in SW+C+SE Mexico, Ver; Comparettia 1 sp. native in mtns of S+C Mexico; Corallorhiza 6 spp., found mostly in highlands Nay, NL, Sin, Son, Tam, and SLP S to Chp, most in C Mexico, also in Chi; Coryanthes 1 sp. native to Cam, Chp, Oax, Tab; Corymborkis 1 sp. native to SW+SE Mexico, and Ver; Crossoliparis monospecific endemic to SW+SE Mexico and N Neo; Cryptarrhena 1 sp. native to S Mexico and Ver; Cuitlauzina 5 spp. including 2 rare endemics found in most of Mexico except the far north and Veracruz; Cycnoches 3? spp. native to S Mexico; Cyrtochiloides 1 sp. native to SE Mexico; Cyrtopodium 2 spp. native to much of Mexico except BC, BCS, Chi, Coa, NL, and Son; Dendrophylax 2 spp. native to S Mexico and Ver; Dichaea 7 spp. native to EC Mexico SLP S to Oax, Chp, and also Mex; Dimerandra 1 sp. native to S Mexico; Dinema monospecific, native to Chp, Oax, and Ver; Elleanthus 3 spp. native to E-S Mexico from Ver S to Chp, including 1 rare endemic of Gro?; Encyclia 35 spp., including 3 endemics from Sin, S Son, and Tam, from Nay in W to N Ver in E and widespread all S of that; Epidendrum ~125 spp. native throughout all of Mexico, inc. ~55 endemic spp.; Epipactis 1 sp. native to N and C Mexico; Erycina 4 spp., including 2 endemics SW Mexico from Jal S to Chp, plus Ver; Eulophia 2 spp. native to Dgo, Sin, Oax, Ver, and Chp; Fernandezia 1 sp. endemic to SW Mexico; Galeandra 2 spp. native to Chp, Col; Galeottia 1 sp. native to SW Mexico;Gongora 3 spp. native to most of Mexico except N, NW, including 2 endemics; Govenia 12 spp., including ~5 endemic, mostly tropical Mexico and up to S Son; Guarianthe 2 spp. native throughout most of Mexico and Socorro Island; Hagsatera 1 sp. native to Guatemala; Helleriella 2 spp., including 1 native to Chi and 1 narrow endemic of Gro; Hintonella monospecific endemic of Jal, Mch, and Mor; Hoehneella monospecific narrow endemic of SE Brazil; Homalopetalum 3 spp. native to most regions of Mexico except the N, including 1 endemic; Ionopsis 1 sp. native from Oax to Chps; Jacquiniella ~8 spp. native from Jal E to Ver S to Chp, including 3 endemics; Kefersteinia 1 sp. native to S Mexico; Kegeliella 1 sp. native to SW Mexico, and Ver; Lacaena 2 spp. Mexico & neoendemic genus of S Mexico; Laelia ~14 spp inc. ~10 endemics are widespread in S Mexico from S Sin E to Tam and all S. plus N Sin and S Son, usually found at high elevations; Lankesteriana 3-5 spp., including 2 endemics to SW+C+SE Mexico; Leochilus 7 spp. native to Jal E to Pue S to Chp, including 3 endemics; Lepanthes 68 spp. native throughout S+C Mexico, including ~39 endemics; Lepanthopsis 1 sp. native to SE Mexico; Liparis 4-5 spp. native, including 1 endemic from Sin and Dgo S to Chp E to Pue; Lockhartia 2 spp. native to S Mexico, including 1 endemic to Oax, Chp; Lycaste 15+ spp., including at least 3 endemics native from Tam in E and Mch in W S to Chp; Macradenia 1 sp. native to S Mexico; Macroclinium 2 spp., including 1 endemic of S+SC Mexico, Ver; Malaxis 71 spp., including ~45 endemics widespread throughout Mexico S to Chp exc BC, Chi, Coa, rare Dgo; Masdevallia 3 spp. native to S+SC Mexico, Ver; Maxillaria ~50 spp. throughout Mexico, most in Col. E to SLP and throughout S Mexico, including several endemics; Meiracyllium 2 spp., including 1 endemic Nay, Jal, Col, Oax, Chp; Mormodes ~23 spp. native from Sin S to Chp, including 4 endemics; Myoxanthus 2 spp. native to S Mexico; Myrmecophila 8 spp. native mostly from Nay E to Tam and S to Chp and SE to tip of QR, Yuc, including ~5 endemics; Nemaconia 6 spp., including 2 endemics native to SW+SE+C Mexico and Ver; Nidema 2 spp. native to Cam, Chp, Gro, Hgo, Mex, Oax, Pue, Qro, SLP, Tab, Ver; Nohawilliamsia monospecific endemic of Venezuela, Guayana, and N Brazil; Notylia 7 spp. native from SLP and Jal S to Chp and SE to QR, Yuc, including 1 narrow endemic of Tam; Oestlundia 4 spp. native, including 3 endemics mostly in Jal, Tam, SLP, Hgo, Pue, Ver; Oncidium ~45 spp., including 4+ endemics mostly from Sin through S Mexico; Ornithocephalus 3 spp. native from Ver S to Oax, Chp and SE to QR, Yuc, including 1 endemic; Phloeophila 1 sp. native to SE Mexico; Platystele 3 spp, native to S Mexico, esp. Chp, Pue, Ver; Plectrophora 1 sp. native (rare and endangered but not endemic) in SE Mexico; Pleurothallis ~55 spp. native to most of Mexico, including several endemics; Polystachya 3 spp. native to NE, SW+SE Mexico, Ver; Ponera 2 spp. native to most of Mexico exc. NW; Prosthechea 47 spp. native, including at least 4 endemics, found throughout most of Mexico but mostly the S half; Psilochilus 1 sp. native mostly in Oax, Ver; Restrepia 2 spp. mostly native to Chp; Restrepiella 1 sp. native mostly in Chp, Oax, Ver, Tab; Rhyncholaelia 2 spp. native to Cam, Chp, QR, and Yuc; Rhynchostele ~15 spp. including 7 endemics from S Son and W Dgo mtns and Tam S to Chp plus Yuc; Rodriguezia 1 sp. native to Jal, Nay; Rossioglossum 5 spp. native to S+C Mexico, including 1 endemic; Scaphosepalum 1 sp. native to SE Mexico; Scaphyglottis 15+ spp. native to W+C+SE Mexico, Ver, including 3+ endemics; Sobralia 15+ spp. native, including 2+ endemics from Mex S to Chp, plus Nay, Tab; Sotoa monospecific endangered endemic of S Coa, NL, Oax, SLP, Tam, Zac, and SW TX USA; Specklinia 15 spp. native to E Mexico SLP S to Chp, Cam, and SW Mexico, including at least 1 endemic; Stanhopea 13 spp. native to most of Mexico, especially Tam and Nay S to Chp, includes 5 endemics; Stelis ~64 spp. with ~20 endemics found throughout Mexico; Tamayorkis 4 spp., including 2 endemic in most of Mexico except Ver; Telipogon 3 spp. all? endemic to S Mexico; Trichocentrum 29 spp., including ~10 endemic, found throughout Mexico; Trichopilia 3 spp. native to S Mexico, Ver; Trichosalpinx 4-5 spp. native, including 1 endemic, throughout Mexico; Triphora 7 spp. native to all of Mexico, inc. 1 endemic; Tropidia 1 sp. native to much of Mexico except the NW and C; Warrea 1 sp. native to SE Mexico; Wullschlaegelia 1 sp. native to S Mexico and Ver; Xylobium 2 spp. native to S Mexico.
Orchidoideae of Mexico
Aulosepalum 5 spp. endemic from Jal E to Tam and S to Chp; Beloglottis 2-3 spp. native to Tam, SLP, Ver, Chp, SW+C Mexico; Brachystele ~ 7spp., including 4-5 endemics, 3 narrow endemics of Jal, distributed throughout the W coast of Mexico; Baskervilla 11 spp. neoendemic genera of Nicaragua S to Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, Peru, S+SE Brazil; Coccineorchis 8 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize), Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Cranichis 6 spp. native inc. 1 endemic Chp, Jal, Mex, SLP, Tam; Cyclopogon 4 spp. native to Jal E to Tam and S to Chp; Deiregyne 25 spp. endemic from S TX through most of Mexico to Guatemala and Honduras, but most are endemic to Mexico; Dichromanthus 4 spp., inc. 2 endemics in most of Mexico exc. BC, Cam, Coa, QR, Yuc; Domingoa 1 sp. native native to Chp, Mch, Ver; Dracula 2 spp. native to S Mexico; Dryadella 2 spp. neoendemics found in S+C Mexico; Funkiella 2 spp. native to S Coa, Jal, Mex, Mch, Oax, Tlx; Galeoglossum 3 spp. in S+C Mexico, including 2 endemic to Chp, Oax; Galeottiella 3 spp. in S+C Mexico, including 2 endemics; Goodyera 12 spp. native throughout Mexico, including 1 rare endemic; Habenaria 80+ spp., most terrestrial, often in swampy areas throughout C, S and SE Mexico, plus BCS and mtns of Chi, Son, Sin, Dgo, includes 50+ spp. endemic to Mexico; Kionophyton 3 spp., including 2 endemic to S+C Mexico, with 1 of genus extending into Guatemala; Lyroglossa 1 rare sp. native to Ver (and Belize); Mesadenella 10 spp. native to CAM (exc. Panama) and tropical SAM S tro Peru, Bolivia, NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay and Suriname); Mesadenus 5 spp., including 2 endemic found throughout Mexico; Microchilus 5 spp., including 1-2 endemics native to most of Mexico except the NW and N; Microepidendrum monospecific endemic of Jal, Oax; Pelexia ~8 spp. native to much of Mexico except the NW, including 2-3 endemics; Physogyne 3 spp. endemic genus of C+SW Mexico; Platanthera 6 spp. native, including 1 endemic, throughout N + C Mexico S to Oax; Ponthieva 11 spp. in all of Mexico but mostly from Tam and Zac S to Chp, including 2-3 endemics; Prescottia 3 spp. native to most regions of Mexico (exc. NW), including 1 endemic; Pseudogoodyera monospecific endemic of NW Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Cuba; Pteroglossa 1 sp. native Chp; Sacoila 2 spp. native throughout all of Mexico except BC, Chi, Coa, and Dgo; Sarcoglottis 12+ spp., inc. 1 endemic throughout Mexico; Schiedeella 15+ spp., including several endemics, found throughout Mexico; Spiranthes ~5 spp. in most of Mexico except the NW; Stenorrhynchos ~4 spp. native to S+C Mexico, Ver; Stenotyla 1 sp. native to SW+SE Mexico; Svenkoeltzia 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of SW+C Mexico.
Vanilloideae of Mexico
Eurystyles 2 spp. native to S Mexico; Isochilus ~9 spp. native to most of Mexico except the N, including 2 endemics; Vanilla 12+ spp. native to S+C Mexico, including the native V. planifolia widely cultivated around the tropics.
Neotropical Orchidaceae Genera
There are about 10,000+ species of orchids that are endemic to the neotropics, so this list may change again as new species are discovered and new studies clarify their relationships, resulting in the lumping or splitting of species. However, this list is as up-to-date as I could make it as of June 2026.
Cypripedioideae in the Neotropics
Cypripedium irapeanum is the southernmost species of its genus, found S as far as Honduras; Phragmipedium 18 spp. neoendemic genera from S Mexico S to Bolivia and Brazil but excluding El Salvador and Belize; Selenipedium 10 spp. native mostly to the Amazon region of SAM from Panama S. to Ecuador, Colombia, and N+C+NE Brazil.
Epidendroideae in the Neotropics A-C
Acampe 1 sp. intro to Cuba; Acianthera ~300 spp. neotropical endemics found throughout CAM, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argentina; Acineta 12 spp. mostly neoendemics native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, N Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru; Acrorchis monospecific endemic of Costa Rica and Panama; Ada monospecific endemic (not fully placed in this subfamily) of Peru; Adamantinia monospecific narrow endemic species of E Brazil; Aetheorhyncha monospecific narrow endemic genus of Ecuador; Aganisia 3 spp. neoendemic genus of tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, C+NE Brazil, plus Trinidad-Tobago, and excluding Ecuador; Anathallis 115 spp. neoendemic (and some Mexican) genera of CAM, tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay), plus Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Trinidad-Tobago; Andinia 80 spp. neoendemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Andreettaea 60 largely neoendemic spp. native to CAM, the Greater Antilles, Leeward & Windward Is., and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and N&SE Brazil; Anguloa 9 spp. NW SAM endemic genera of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia; Archivea monospecific narrow endemic of Brazil; Arpophyllum 2 spp. Mexico + N neoendemic genera of CAM (except Panama), plus Colombia, Venezuela, and Jamaica; Arundina 1 sp. intro to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Panama, Puerto Rico; Aspasia 7 spp. neoendemic genus of epiphytes from Guatemala S through tropical SAM to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Barbosella 19 spp. neoendemic genus native to Guatemala and Nicaragua S to Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil (except C), Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NE Argentina; Barkeria 15 spp. native, including multiple endemics mostly from Guatemala S to Costa Rica (exc. Belize) with 1 sp. S to Panama; Batemannia 3 spp. N SAM endemic genus S to Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil; Benzingia 11 spp. N neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Bifrenaria 52 spp. neoendemic genera of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and Costa Rica S through tropical Sam to Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and Trinidad-Tobago; Bletia ~45-50 spp. native throughout the Caribbean, Antilles, CAM, and tropical SAM S to Peru, NW Argentina, Paraguay, and S Brazil, but excluding Suriname; Brachionidium 83 spp. neoendemic genus of Guatemala, Nicaragua S to Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, peru, Bolivia, N+SE Brazil, and the Greater Antilles and Windward Is.; Braemia monospecific endemic of N SAM SA to Peru and N Brazil; Brassavola 19 spp. of showy fragrant epiphytes native to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the Lesser Antilles, CAM, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and NE Argentina, excluding Ecuador and Uruguay, and including 1 critically endangered in Cayman Islands; Brassia 70 spp. of mostly epiphytes of wet low elevation rainforests native to CAM, the Greater Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Broughtonia 7 spp. Caribbean endemic genus in Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas; Bulbophyllum 70-100 spp. native throughout CAM, the Caribbean, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, NE Argentina, and S Brazil, with many endemic to Brazil; Brachystele ~12 spp. native to Colombia, Suriname, Peru, C Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and S+SE Brazil; Calanthe ~2 spp. of this mostly Asian genus are native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Cuba, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic and introduced to Puerto Rico; Calopogon mostly NAM genus with 1 sp. extending S to Cuba and the Bahamas; Caluera 5 spp. SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, N. Brazil, Ecuador, and Bolivia; Campylocentrum 78 spp. native to CAM, Antilles, Caribbean, and tropical SAM S to N Argentina (exc. Chile); Capanemia 8 spp. SAM endemic genus of E+S Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, and Uruguay; Catasetum 205 spp. of showy epiphytes endemic to the West Indies, CAM, SAM to S Argentina, many endemic to Brazil; Cattleya 136 neoendemic spp. native to Costa Rica, S to Argentina and Brazil (exc. Chile); Caucaea 19 spp. a N SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Caularthron 4 spp. endemic to SE Mexico, CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Guayana, French Guiana, N Brazil, Ecuador, Trinidad-Tobago, and the Windward Is.; Chamelophyton monospecific endemic of Venezuela, French Guiana, and Suriname; Chaubardia 3 spp. N SAM endemic genus S to Peru, Bolivia, and C+SE Brazil; Chaubardiella 8 spp. N neoendemic genus from Costa Rica south to Colombia, E to French Guiana, plus Ecuador and Peru; Cheiradenia monospecific N SAM endemic species of Venezuela, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad-Tobago; Chondrorhyncha 5 spp. a N SAM endemic genus of Ecuador E to Venezuela, most in highland rainforests; Chondroscaphe 15 spp. neoendemic genera from Costa Rica S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru; Chysis 13 spp. neoendemic genera from S Mexico S to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, and C Brazil; Chytroglossa 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of SE Brazil; Cirrhaea 7 spp. narrow endemic genus of epiphytes in E + S Brazil; Cischweinfia 13 spp. neoendemic genus from Costa Rica S to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Clowesia 6 spp. Mexico & neoendemic spp. native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, N Brazil, and Ecuador; Cochleanthes 4 spp. native epiphytes of Guatemala S to Colombia (exc. El Salvador), Ecuador, Venezuela, N+S+SE Brazil, most of the Greater Antilles; Coelia 5 spp. Mexico and CAM endemic genus native to Guatemala S to Panama, Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico; Coeliopsis monospecific endemic of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panamá; Comparettia 89 spp. neoendemic genus of CAM, the Greater Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, excluding Guyana and Suriname, but mostly in the Andes; Constantia 6 spp. narrow endemic genus of S+SE Brazil; Corallorhiza 1 mostly northern sp. found S into highlands of Nicaragua; Coryanthes 71 spp. of mostly neoendemic epiphytes in lowland tropical forests from S Mexico S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, and also in Trinidad; Corymborkis 5 spp. native to CAM, Antilles, Colombia, Guyana (1 endemic), Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, NE Argentina, S & SE Brazil; Crossoglossa 51 spp. neoendemic genera from Nicaragua S to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Crossoliparis monospecific endemic of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela & S Mexico; Cryptarrhena 3 spp. neoendemic genus from S Mexico S through N SAM to Peru, Boliva, and Brazil, also in Jamaica and Trinidad-Tobago; Cuitlauzina 6 spp., many threatened endemics, native from Guatemala S to Colombia, excluding Belize; Cyanaeorchis 3 spp. E SAM endemics of C+SE+S Brazil, Paraguay, and NE Argentina; Cycnoches 33 spp. neoendemic epiphytes in hot humid lowlands from S Mexico S through CAM and tropical SAM to Peru, Bolivia, and SE Brazil (exc. NE Brazil); Cypholoron 2 spp. with 1 each endemic to Ecuador and Venezuela; Cyrtopodium 48 spp. endemic epiphyte and terrestrial from S USA S to Argentina; Cyrtochiloides 3 spp. native to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador (1 endemic), and Peru; Cyrtochilum 214 spp. N neoendemic genera of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Leeward Is., Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela; Cyrtopodium 51 spp. endemic from S USA S to Peru and N Argentina, plus the Greater Antilles.
Epidendroideae in the Neotropics D-G
Daiotyla 5 spp. narrow endemic genus from Costa Rica S to Colombia; Dendrobium 1 sp. intro to Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Leeward Is., and Trinidad-Tobago; Dendrophylax 16 spp. epiphytes endemic to the Greater Antilles, Guatemala, and El Salvador, some critically endangered; Dichaea 120+ spp. Mexico & neoendemic native to CAM, Greater and Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Dilomilis 5 spp endemic to the Greater Antilles; Dimerandra 7 spp. neoendemic from S Mexico S to Peru, N+E Brazil, and Jamaica; Dinema monospecific endemic to S Mexico S to Nicaragua, Panama, Jamaica; Diodonopsis 6 spp. neoendemic genus Costa Rica to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Discyphus monospecific endemic of Panama, Venezuela, and NE Brazil; Dunstervillea 11 spp. neoendemic genus of Panama S to Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil, excluding Suriname; Degranvillea monospecific endemic of French Guiana, Suriname; Echinorhyncha 5 spp. endemic to Colombia and Ecuador; Echinosepala 17 spp. neoendemics of Belize, Nicaragua S to Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil, also Jamaica; Elleanthus 157 spp. mostly neoendemics of CAM, Greater and Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, N+E+S Brazil; Embreea 2 spp. endemic to Colombia and Ecuador; Encyclia 172 spp. epiphytes or lithophytes, most CAM and West Indies 0-1000 m, also Mexico, SAM S to Paraguay; Epidendrum 1800+ mostly neoendemic spp. native to CAM, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Eriopsis 4 spp. neoendemic of CAM (exc. El Salvador and Nicaragua), tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil; Erycina 5 spp. native to CAM and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Eulophia 1 sp. native to CAM, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, tropical SAM S to Peru, N Argentina; Euryblema 2 spp. endemic to Panama and Colombia; Fernandezia 88 spp. neoendemic to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Frondaria 3 spp. W SAM endemic to Colombia S to Bolivia; Galeandra 41 spp. neoendemic from FL and S Mexico S through the Greater Antilles, CAM, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argentina, mostly in the Amazon Basin; Galeottia 12 spp. neoendemic genus of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Guyana, and Brazil; Gomesa 129 spp. SAM endemic epiphyte or lithophyte, mostly in Brazil, but also Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Gongora 79 spp. Mexico & neoendemic from Guatemala S through to Peru, Bolivia, N+E+S Brazil, high diversity in Colombia; Govenia ~24 spp. native and endemic to CAM (exc. Belize), the Greater Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, NW Argentina, Paraguay, and S Brazil (exc. NE Brazil); Grobya 5 spp. endemic genus of E+S Brazil; Guarianthe 3 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, and intro Ecuador.
Epidendroideae in the Neotropics H-M:
Hofmeisterella 2 spp. NW SAM endemic genera from Venezuela W to Peru, also in Bolivia; Homalopetalum 9 spp. neoendemics of the West Indies, CAM, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, S+SE Brazil; Horichia monospecific endemic of Panama; Huntleya 17 spp. neoendemic genus of epiphytes of wet cloud forests from Guatemala S to Peru, Bolivia, and N+E+S Brazil, excluding El Salvador, Suriname, and French Guiana; Ionopsis 6 spp. endemic to lowland tropics from Florida, West Indies, Mexico, and S to Paraguay; Isabelia 3 spp. endemic epiphytes of NE Brazil S to N Argentina exc. Uruguay; Ixyophora 8 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Jacquiniella ~9 spp. native to CAM, the Greater Antilles, and N SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Kefersteinia 65 spp. neoendemic genus from S Mexico S to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Suriname, and French Guiana, mostly epiphytes of the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador; Kegeliella 3 spp. neoendemic genus (1 extends into S Mexico) from Guatemala S to Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, and N Brazil, excluding Honduras, and also in Trinidad-Tobago; Lacaena 2 spp. native to CAM and Colombia; Lankesteriana 20 spp. Mexico and neoendemic genera native to Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Costa Rica S through tropical SAM to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Leochilus 9 spp. neoendemics from S Mexico S through CAM to Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and N+NE Brazil; Lepanthes ~1190 spp. neoendemics of the Antilles, CAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and N+NE Brazil; Lepanthopsis 50 spp. neoendemics mostly in the Andes and Caribbean, also CAM and SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil (exc. Suriname); Leptotes 10 spp. SAM endemic genus of E+S Brazil, Paraguay, and NE Argentina; Liparis ~35 spp. of this cosmopolitan genus are found throughout the neotropical region, excluding N+C Chile and Uruguay; Lockhartia 32 spp. neoendemic from S Mexico through CAM and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Loefgrenianthus monospecific narrow endemic of S+SE Brazil; Lueckelia monospecific endemic of Peru, N+SE Brazil, and Bolivia; Lueddemannia 3 spp. NW SAM endemic of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Lycaste ~39 spp. neoendemics of CAM and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and N+C Brazil (exc. the E); Lycomormium 5 spp. W SAM endemics of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Macradenia 13 spp. largely neoendemic but from S Florida and S Mexico, S through CAM (exc. El Salvador) to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and S Brazil; Macroclinium 48 spp. neoendemics from S Mexico S through CAM and tropical SAM to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Madisonia 10 spp. neoendemic genus of Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and N+E Brazil; Malaxis ~70 spp. native to CAM, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and N Argentina; Masdevallia 656 spp. neoendemic genera from S. Mexico S through CAM to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, most at high altitudes in the Andes (2500-4000 m); Maxillaria ~650 spp. mostly neoendemic epiphytes found from FL and Mexico S through CAM and SAM to Peru, Bolivia, and NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Meiracyllium 1 sp. native to Guatemala; Miltonia 12 spp. E SAM endemics of Brazil (exc. N), Paraguay, and NE Argentina; Miltoniopsis 5 spp. neoendemic genus of wet cloud forests of CAM, Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, NW Venezuela, Peru, and Bolivia; Monophyllorchis 6 spp., a N neoendemic genus from Nicaragua S to Colombia and Ecuador; Mormodes ~83 spp. mostly neoendemic genus of CAM and tropical SAM lowland rainforests S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Myoxanthus 56 spp. neoendemic genus from S Mexico S through CAM and SAM to Peru, Bolivia, N+E+S Brazil (excluding French Guiana); Myrmecophila ~ 5 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, and Venezuela and intro to Cuba and extinct in Aruba.
Epidendroideae in the Neotropics N-Q
Nemaconia 4 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, S+SE Brazil; Neocogniauxia 2 spp. narrow island endemics of the Dominican Republic, Jamaica; Neogardneria monospecific endemic of SE Brazil; Neomoorea monospecific endemic of Panama and Colombia; Nidema 2 spp. native to CAM, the Greater Antilles, Trinidad-Tobago, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil; Notylia 55 spp., neoendemics of CAM, Trinidad-Tobago, and SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil, generally found from 0-900m; Notyliopsis monospecific narrow endemic of Colombia; Nothostele 2 spp. narrow endemics of C+SE Brazil; Octomeria 171 spp. neoendemic genus of Honduras S to Peru, Bolivia, NE Argentina, and Brazil, plus Cuba and Belize; Oestlundia 1 sp. native Guatemala S to Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru (exc. Panama); Oliveriana 15 spp. N+W SAM endemics of Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Oncidium 335 spp. neoendemics of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, CAM, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Ophidion 17 neoendemic spp. of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Bolivia; Orleanesia 6 spp. tropical SAM endemic genera S to Bolivia, C+NE Brazil; Ornithocephalus ~55 spp. neoendemics from S Mexico S through CAM (exc. El Salvador), Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Islands, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Otoglossum 27 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, N Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Otostylis 2 spp. SAM endemic genus native to Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Peru, N+C Brazil; Pabstia 5 spp. narrow endemic genus of S+SE Brazil; Pabstiella 29 spp. neoendemic genus from Costa Rica S through to Peru, Bolivia, NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Palmorchis 38 spp. neoendemic genus from Nicaragua S to Peru and N Brazil; Paphinia 16 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica S to Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil; Papilionanthe 1 sp. intro to Cuba; Paradisanthus monospecific endemic of E+S Brazil; Peristeria 13 spp. neoendemic genus of Guatemala, Costa Rica S to Peru, Bolivia, N+NE Brazil; Pescatoria 21 spp. neoendemic genus from Costa Rica S to Peru and N Brazil; Phalaenopsis 1 sp. intro to Panama; Phloeophila 6 spp. neoendemic genus from S Mexico, Belize, Cuba, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia, and SE Brazil; Phymatidium 9 spp. E SAM endemic genus of E+S Brazil, Paraguay, and NE Argentina; Platyrhiza monospecific endemic of S+SE Brazil; Platystele 124 spp. neoendemic genus from S+C Mexico S through CAM, Cuba, and SAM to Bolivia and N+SE Brazil; Plectrophora 10 spp. neoendemic genus from S Mexico and Guatemala, Costa Rica S to Peru, Bolivia, and C Brazil; Pleurothallis ~590+ spp. mostly neoendemic epiphytes found throughout CAM, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil (exc. C Brazil); Pleurothallopsis 21 spp. neoendemic genus of Guatemala, Nicaragua S to Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, and E Brazil; Pogoniopsis 2 spp. endemic genus of E+S Brazil; Polycycnis 15 spp. neoendemic genus of Honduras, Costa Rica S to Colombia, Venezuela E to French Guiana, plus NE Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Polyotidium monospecific endemic to Colombia, Venezuela, and N Brazil; Polystachya ~15 spp. native to CAM, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Bolivia, N Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Ponera 2 spp. native to Guatemala and El Salvador (also in Mexico); Porroglossum 59 spp. N+W SAM endemic to the Andes, mostly from Venezuela W to Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Promenaea is monospecific and endemic to E+S Brazil; Prosthechea ~128 spp. Mexico and neoendemics are found throughout CAM, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil; Pseudolaelia 14 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Psilochilus 19 spp. neoendemics from S Mexico through CAM, the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Guyana, and N+E+S Brazil; Psychilis 15 spp. mostly single island endemic genus of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is., Puerto Rico; Psychopsis 4 spp. neoendemic genus Costa Rica S to Peru, Bolivia, N Brazil, excluding Guyana and including Trinidad-Tobago; Pterostemma 5 spp. narrow endemic genus of Colombia and Ecuador; Pygmaeorchis 2 spp. narrow endemics of SE Brazil; Quekettia 7 spp. N SAM endemic genus S to Peru, Bolivia, N+NE Brazil; Quisqueya 4 spp. single-island endemic genus of Hispaniola.
Epidendroideae in the Neotropics R-Z
Rauhiella 3 spp. narrow endemic genus of E Brazil; Restrepia 69 S Mexico and neoendemic spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize), Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, mostly in the Andes; Restrepiella 3 spp. mostly neoendemic genus of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and SE Brazil; Rhyncholaelia 2 spp. Mexico and CAM endemic native to Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras; Rhynchostele ~10 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize) and Venezuela; Rodriguezia 46 spp. neoendemic (and 1 in S Mexico) of the Windward Islands, Nicaragua S to Bolivia, NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay) with many endemic to Brazil; Rossioglossum 12 spp. Mexico & N neoendemic genus of CAM (exc. Belize), Trinidad-Tobago, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru; Sanderella 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of Brazil (exc. N), Bolivia, and N Argentina; Scaphosepalum 60 spp. neoendemic genus from S Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guayana, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Scaphyglottis ~75 spp. neoendemics from S Mexico S through CAM and tropical SAM to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, plus Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico; Schlimia 6 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Schunkea monospecific narrow endemic of SE Brazil; Seegeriella 3 spp. W SAM endemics of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Sobralia ~190 spp. mostly terrestrial neoendemics from CAM and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil; Solenidium 3 spp. N SAM endemic genus S to Peru, Bolivia, C & NE Brazil (exc. Suriname); Soterosanthus monospecific endemic of Colombia and Ecuador; Spathoglottis 1? sp. intro to the Greater and Lesser Antilles; Specklinia 117 spp. Mexico & neoendemic genus of CAM, the Greater Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, Brazil (exc. C), and NE Argentina; Stanhopea ~73 spp. neoendemics from Mexico S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil (exc. C); Stelis ~1322 spp. Mexico & neoendemics of CAM, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Bolivia and Brazil; Stenia 22 spp. N SAM endemic of Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, N+NE Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Suarezia monospecific endemic of Ecuador; Sudamerlycaste (or syn. Ida) 45 spp. neoendemic genus of the Greater Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and SE Brazil; Sutrina 2 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Peru and Bolivia; Systeloglossum 5 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica S to Ecuador and Peru: Tamayorkis 1 sp. native to Guatemala; Teagueia 18 spp. W SAM endemic genera of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Telipogon ~255 spp. neoendemic genera of Guatemala, Hispaniola, Nicaragua S to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Venezuela; Tetramicra 10 spp. mostly endemic to the Greater and Lesser Antilles and the Bahamas, also in FL and French Guiana; Thysanoglossa 3 spp. narrow endemic genera of SE Brazil; Tolumnia 30 spp. Caribbean endemic genus of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, Bahamas, and FL; Tomzanonia monospecific narrow endemic of Haiti; Trevoria 5 spp. neoendemic genera of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia; Trichocentrum ~93 spp. mostly neoendemic epiphytes from Mexico and Florida S through CAM, much of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Bolivia and N Argentina; Trichoceros 10 spp. W SAM endemic genera from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Trichopilia 47 spp. neoendemic genus from S Mexico S through CAM and SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, also in most of the Greater Antilles and Trinidad-Tobago; Trichosalpinx 38 spp. neo & Mex-endemic native to CAM, Cuba, and SAM S to Bolivia, N+NE Brazil; Triphora ~18 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize), the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to N Argentina exc. Chile, Peru, and Uruguay; Trisetella 29 spp. neoendemics from Costa Rica S to Bolivia and N Brazil, excluding Suriname; Trizeuxis monospecific neoendemic from Costa Rica S to Bolivia and Brazil, excluding Suriname and French Guiana; Tropidia 1 sp. of an otherwise Asian genus native to CAM (exc. Belize, El Salvador, and Panama), the Greater Antilles, Galapagos, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and C Brazil; Uleiorchis 4 spp. neoendemic genera of Honduras Costa Rica S to Peru and N Brazil (exc. Ecuador), plus S+SE Brazil; Vasqueziella monospecific endemic of Bolivia and Peru; Vitekorchis 4 spp. NW SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Warczewiczella 11 spp. neoendemic genus of Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical SAM S to Bolivia, N+E+S Brazil; Warmingia 4 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, NE Argentina, E+S Brazil; Warrea 4 spp. neoendemic genus from S Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, SE+S Brazil, and NE Argentina; Warreella 2 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Venezuela; Warreopsis monospecific neoendemic from Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador; Wullschlaegelia 2 spp. neoendemic from S Mexico S through Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica S through SAM to Bolivia, NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Xerorchis 2 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia S to Peru, Bolivia, E to N+C Brazil; Xylobium 18 spp. neoendemic from S Mexico S to Bolivia and Brazil, also in the Greater Antilles, Trinidad-Tobago, and the Windward Is.; Zelenkoa monospecific endemic of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Zootrophion 40 spp. neoendemic genus of Nicaragua S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, S+SE Brazil, and the Greater Antilles; Zygopetalum 6 spp. SAM endemic genus of E+S Brazil, also Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and NE Argentina; Zygosepalum 3 spp. N SAM endemic genus S to peru, C+NE Brazil; Zygostates 32 spp. tropical SAM endemic genus S to Bolivia, NE Argentina (exc. N+C Brazil, Uruguay).
Orchidoideae in the Neotropics A-G
Aa 26 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, N Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N Argentina; Altensteinia 8 spp. W SAM endemic of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Aracamunia monospecific narrow endemic of S Venezuela; Aulosepalum 5-7 spp. native from S Mexico S to Costa Rica, excluding Belize; Beloglottis 7 spp. native to the Dominican Republic, Trinidad-Tobago, Cayman Islands (1 critically endangered sp.), CAM, Colombia, Venezuela E to French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, C Brazil, and NW Argentina; Bipinnula 10 SAM endemic spp. native to Chile, NE Argentina, Uruguay, and S Brazil; Buchtienia 4 spp. SAM endemic genus of Ecuador, Peru, N+C+SE Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay; Chloraea 54 spp. SAM endemic genus to Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, C+S Chile, Uruguay, and S Brazil; Coccineorchis 8 spp. Mexico and neoendemic genus of CAM, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Codonorchis 2 spp. endemic SAM, 1 in S Brazil other in Patagonia region; Cotylolabium monospecific narrow endemic of SE Brazil; Cranichis 92 spp. endemic from FL, USA and Mexico, S through CAM, West Indies, N and NW SAM S to Bolivia, plus Atlantic SC Brazil; Cyclopogon 107 spp. endemic from FL and Mexico S through CAM, West Indies, and SAM S to Bolivia and N Argentina and the Galapagos, includes 2 spp. critical endangered in the Cayman Islands; Cybebus monospecific endemic of Colombia and Ecuador; Deiregyne 1-2 spp. native to Guatemala and Honduras, most are endemic to Mexico; Dichromanthus 1-2 spp. mostly Mexican genus native to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras; Domingoa 4 spp. endemic S Mexico S to Nicaragua (exc. Belize), Cuba, and Dominican Republic; Draconanthes 10 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Dracula 147 spp. endemic to the moist forests from S Mexico to Peru (Exc. El Salvador and Belize), with many in Colombia and Ecuador lowlands; Dresslerella 14 spp. neoendemic from Guatemala S to Ecuador and Peru (exc. El Salvador); Dressleria 13 spp. neoendemic from Nicaragua S to Ecuador and Peru; Dryadella 54 spp. neoendemic from S Mexico S to Bolivia, Paraguay, and S Brazil but excluding Guyana to French Guiana; Eltroplectris 16 spp. endemic to S FL, S through the West Indies, and tropical SAM to Peru and Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Espinhassoa 2 spp. narrow endemics of SE Brazil; Fuertesiella monospecific endemic of Cuba and the Dominican Republic; Funkiella 16 spp. native to CAM (exc. Belize and Panama), Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Venezuela; Galeoglossum 1 sp. native to Guatemala; Galeottiella 1 sp. native to Guatemala; Gavilea 17 spp. endemic to C+S Chile, NE+S Argentina including Patagonia region; Gomphichis 34 spp. neoendemic genus from Costa Rica S to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Guyana; Goodyera ~15 spp. native to CAM and Hispaniola, including 2 endemics in Costa Rica (1) and Guatemala (1).
Orchidoideae in the Neotropics H-Z
Habenaria 200+ spp. native to the entire neotropic region; Hapalorchis 13 spp. neoendemic genus of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Greater Antilles, Colombia E to French Guiana, plus E+S Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Helenoma 4 spp. N SAM endemic to Colombia, E to Suriname, N Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru; Hemipilia 4 spp. N SAM endemic S to Peru and N Brazil, excluding French Guiana; Kionophyton 1 sp., mostly a Mexican genus extending into Guatemala; Laelia ~14 spp. of a Mexican & neoendemic genus found throughout CAM and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, also in Cuba, Jamaica, and Trinidad-Tobago; Lankesterella 11 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, NE Argentina, E+S Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela; Lyroglossa 2 spp. neoendemics of Belize, Colombia, Venezuela, Guayana E to French Guiana, plus C+SE+S Brazil, and Paraguay; Mesadenus 3 spp. native to Guatemala and Belize, the Bahamas, and the Greater Antilles; Microchilus ~260 spp. neoendemic from Mexico S to Peru, Bolivia, and NE Argentina (excluding Uruguay), also in the Bahamas, Galapagos, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles; Myrosmodes 14 spp. W SAM endemic to Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Odontorrhynchus 5 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, N Argentina, and C+S Chile; Pelexia ~90 spp. mostly neoendemic genus of CAM, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argentina; Platanthera 2 spp. native to Cuba, Costa Rica; Ponthieva ~72 spp. mostly neoendemics native throughout CAM (exc. Belize), the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guayana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and NW Argentina; Porphyrostachys 2 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Ecuador and Peru; Prescottia 24 spp. from FL and Mexico S through CAM, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argentina; Pseudocentrum 17 spp. neoendemic genus of the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Costa Rica S to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Pseudogoodyera monospecific endemic of NW Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Cuba; Pterichis 45 spp. neoendemic genus of Jamaica, Costa Rica S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Pteroglossa 14 spp. neoendemic genus from Chiapas Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, C+E+S Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Quechua monospecific endemic genus of Peru; Sacoila 9 spp. mostly neoendemic genera from FL and Mexico S through CAM, the Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Argentina; Sarcoglottis 57 spp. Mex and neoendemic genera of CAM and tropical SAM S to Bolivia and N Argentina, also in Trinidad-Tobago and Windward Is.; Sauroglossum 11 spp. SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil; Schiedeella ~10 spp. native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic; Sertifera 11 spp. NW SAM endemics of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Skeptrostachys 10 spp. SAM endemics of Suriname, Brazil (exc. N), Paraguay, N Argentina, and Uruguay; Solenocentrum 4 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia; Spiranthes 4 spp. found S into CAM S to Costa Rica (exc. El Salvador), and the Greater Antilles; Sievekingia 14 spp. neoendemic genera Nicaragua S to Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Ecuador, peru, and Bolivia; Stenoptera 6 spp. SAM endemic of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil; Stenorrhynchos 7 spp. neoendemic genera from S Mexico S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru, also in most of the Greater Antilles; Stenotyla 9 spp. neoendemic genera from S Mexico S to Panama, excluding Belize; Thelyschista monospecific endemic of NE Brazil; Zeuxine 1 sp. intro into SE Brazil, NW Argentina, Cuba, and Jamaica.
Vanilloideae in the Neotropics
Cleistes 59 spp. neoendemic genus from Costa Rica S through SAM to Peru, Bolivia, and NE Argentina, exc. Uruguay; Duckeella 8 spp. N SAM endemic of Colombia, Venezuela, and N Brazil, doubtful in Guyana; Epistephium 28 spp. neoendemic genus of Belize, Costa Rica, tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Eurystyles 23 spp. endemic genus from Guatemala S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil (exc. N), NE Argentina, and Paraguay; Isochilus ~10 spp. native to CAM, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and SAM S to Peru and N Argentina (exc. N Brazil and Uruguay); Vanilla ~60 spp. native to CAM, the Antilles and Bahamas, tropical SAM S to Bolivia and NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay), including 20+ endemic to Brazil, and V. planifolia native to Belize and Mexico.
Patagonia Orchidaceae Genera Include:
Only the Orchidoideae subfamily is represented in the Patagonia region:
Orchidoideae Subfamily in Patagonia
Bipinnula 1 sp. native to Bio Bio, Los Rios, Chile; Brachystele 1-2 spp. native to C+S Chile and S Argentina; Chloraea ~ 15 spp. native throughout the region S to Tierra Del Fuego, S Magallanes, and Falkland Islands; Codonorchis 1 sp. native throughout the region, including Tierra del Fuego, S. Magallanes, and Falkland Islands; Gavilea 11 spp. native throughout Patagonia inc. Tierra del Fuego, S Magallanes, and Falkland Islands; Habenaria 1 sp. Neuquén, Argentina and Bio Bio S to Los Lagos, Chile; Odontorrhynchus 1-2 spp. native to temperate Chile.
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA (1993+). Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. (2009+). Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO (2019+). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/
USDA, NRCS. 2020. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992+). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
Zhang, H., Tang, M., Wang, Y., Pan, R., & Deng, H. (2026). Patterns of Orchid Diversity and Their Potential Habitat Under Climate Change in Chongqing, China. Biology, 15(4), 351. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology15040351.
Copyright Information
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
2 Jun, 2026
30 May, 2026
Learn How to Identify the Iridaceae or Iris Family
Iris cristata showing the unique flower and flat, sword-like leaves so common in the Iridaceae family. Page Last Updated September 8, 2026.
Introduction to the Iridaceae Family
Welcome to the Iridaceae, aka the Iris family! This popular family is native across the globe, from sun-drenched South African hillsides to soggy North American wetlands. This family is easy to recognize by their sword-shaped leaves that often overlap in a fan-shaped arrangement and their unique colorful three-part flowers (6 tepals, 3 styles, 3 stamens) that usually have showy, often yellow nectar guides.
I am a big ‘fan’ of this family (sorry, botany nerd alert!) because it’s so beautiful and so diverse, and I never understood why people grow invasive irises in their gardens when we have so many gorgeous native ones to choose from! (But never harvest from the wild, please!). And since I remember my mom also being a fan of irises, I am dedicating this page to her memory.
Beginner’s Guide to the Iris (Iridaceae) Family
If you’re new to plant morphology, this guide is a perfect beginner’s description for learning to identify the Iris (Iridaceae) family, with no need to know any scientific jargon. Below this section are morphology photos to help you identify the family, followed by pictures of individual species found in North America. But for researchers or those wanting to learn a more in-depth version, refer to the Scientific Botanical Descriptionbelow the images for highly detailed scientific descriptions and genus-level distribution data.
Leaves and Stemsof the Iris Family
The Iridaceae are mostly perennial herbs from rhizomes or corms, often growing near or partially submerged in water, but drought-tolerant species are also known. Leaves are simple, grass-like or swordlike, with parallel veins, and often borne edgewise to the stem and appearing fan-shaped.
Flowersof the Iris Family
The plants are hermaphrodites, with male (stamens) and female (ovary, stigma, and style) parts in the same flowers. Flowers are small to large, made of six petal-like tepals that are joined and appear in two whorls, with the inner whorl often smaller and sometimes standing upright, a distinguishing feature in the family. The flower/inflorescence has a leafy sheath around it that they emerge from as they bloom.
Reproductive Featuresof the Iris Family
There are usually 3 stamens, free or joined in a tube, appearing in one whorl opposite the outer tepals. They almost always have an inferior ovary attached beneath the point where the tepals attach, and they may have 1, 3, or 6 terminal styles, depending on whether these are interpreted as lobes or separate styles, but they usually ‘appear’ to have 3.
Fruitsof the Iris Family
Fruits are dry capsules that split open at maturity and usually contain 3 chambers with 2 rows of large seeds in each.
Morphology of Iridaceae in North America
Some Species of Iridaceae Found in North America
Iridoideae Subfamily
Dietes grandiflora—Fortnight Lily
This plant is a popular cultivated species in North America for its hardiness and large, beautiful flowers. From South Africa, this species has 6 white tepals, 3 petal-like white styles in the center, and 3 yellow nectar guides on the outer tepals to guide the pollinators in. This one was in cultivation in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Iris cristata—Dwarf Crested Iris
This lovely iris is native to the quiet forests of the southeastern USA, like this one I found in Georgia. It has low, sword-like leaves growing in a fan-like arrangement. The flower has 6 purple tepals, with nectar guides on the outer 3 and 3 thinner inner ones that stand slightly upright. However, don’t be fooled by the innermost whorl of the slightly lighter purple upright ‘tepals’—those are actually petal-like styles!
Iris fulva—Copper Iris
This moisture-loving iris stands out for its bright coppery-red to brick-red flowers, unusual in the family, and for its 3 inner tepals that droop like the outer ones instead of standing upright. Those 3 upright ones in the middle are petal-like styles, and you can see the open stylar canal at the end of the one in the front. These were growing in a wet roadside ditch in Arkansas.
Iris missouriensis—Rocky Mountain Iris
This Iris thrives in high-elevation meadows, plains, and mountain valleys from Canada to Mexico; this one was in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. The flowers are pale to dark lavender with striking purple veins, but I have also found it in the rare white form with yellow veins. The inner tepals stand upright along with the petal-like styles.
Sisyrinchium angustifolium—Blue-Eyed Grass
This genus is known for its grass-like leaves and small, usually blue-violet flower that only open on bright, sunny mornings. Sheaths are visible at the flower base, and if you look at the back of the flower, a fuzzy green inferior ovary is clearly visible. This species is native to low woods, meadows, and damp fields in eastern North America, like this one I found in Tennessee.
Sisyrinchiummicranthum—Striped Rush-Leaf
This is an introduced, weedy species from South America. It can be identified by its small flowers, which may be light lavender, blue, or creamy white. They can be identified by the prominent wine-colored band at the tepal base, which makes a contrasting ring around its central yellow throat and its wine-colored veins on the tepals. This one was on a moist roadside in Mississippi.
Sisyrinchiumpruinosum—Spotted Blue-Eyed Grass
This lovely native species is a bit unusual in that it thrives in sun-baked prairies and grasslands, like this one I found in Oklahoma. It has vibrant blue flowers that are larger than most of its genus, and its leaves are pruinose—with a waxy, grayish, powdery coating on the leaves that imparts it its ‘spotted’ or ‘dotted’ appearance and common names. Its 3 stamens are also visible here, united into a tube at their base, with 3 free yellow anthers at the top.
Uses of the Iris Family
The Iridaceae are widely grown as ornamental plants, including the common blue flag, the yellow flag, and the lovely Dietes species, all of which can become invasive in some areas. Many species of Iridaceae are, however, narrow endemics, with small populations and/or few occurrences, making them highly vulnerable to extirpation and extinction. This is one of the many reasons we should never remove plants from the wild.
Crocus sativus is the most prized member of the family, a delicate flower grown for the world’s most expensive spice, saffron, which comes from the 3 thread-like stigmas of the flowers. Harvesting 3 tiny red stigmas from each flower means it takes 75,000 to 150,000 flowers just to get a pound of dried saffron.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of Iridaceae
The Iridaceae are popular with pollinators like bees, moths, and butterflies for their nectar and pollen, including highly visual flowers with unique ultraviolet patterns and nectar guides to invite the insects in. Many gladiolas have even evolved for specific moth species, where the shape of the flower matches that species’ tongue length.
In North America, native irises often live as emergent aquatics or wetland species with their dense rhizomes that stabilize the shoreline and create microhabitats for invertebrates.
Taxonomy of the Iridaceae Family
There are between 2,145 and 2,244 species in 66 genera in the Iridaceae family, which is part of the Asparagales order of the Monocot clade. As it is a relatively large family, it is broken into 7 subfamilies as follows:
Aristeoideae Subfamily
The Aristeoideae is a monogeneric subfamily that can be easily recognized because they are rhizomatous vines from southern Africa and Madagascar with isobifacial leaves and flowers that do not last long.
Genera of the Aristeoideae Subfamily
Aristea (60).
CrocoideaeSubfamily
The Crocoideae is a large subfamily with 1,170 species in 32 genera, mostly in southern Africa, but also in Europe, Arabia, and Central Asia. They are plants that grow from corms with spicate inflorescences with long-lived flowers and leaves with closed leaf sheaths.
The Geosiridoideae is a small monogeneric subfamily with 1 genus and 3 species found in Madagascar, the Comores, and Australia. They are achlorophyllous mycoheterotrophic plants without styloids, with heterobifacial leaves, and with sessile flowers.
Genera of the Geosiridoideae Subfamily
Geosiris (3).
IridoideaeSubfamily
The Iridoideae is a large subfamily with 920 species in 30 genera found worldwide, but especially in the spine of Central America and South America. They are plants whose whorls of tepals are always differentiated, and they have long, tubular style branches. They come from corms or sometimes bulbs, and the leaf blades may be rounded to flat or dorsiventral. Sometimes the tepals are bearded, and sometimes the style branches are commissural.
The Isophysidoideae is a monospecific subfamily, Isophysis tasmanica, from Tasmania. It produces solitary flowers with spathes, and it has no nectaries, a more or less superior ovary, and style branches that are more or less spiraling and are commissural.
Genera of the Isophysidoideae Subfamily
Isophysis (1).
NivenioideaeSubfamily
The Nivenioideae is a small subfamily with 15 species in 3 genera found only in the southwest Cape region of South Africa. They are woody plants with long-loved sessile flowers and leaves with non-vascular fibrous strands and simple stigmas that are slightly expanded or not expanded at all.
Genera of the Nivenioideae Subfamily
Klattia (3), Nivenia (11), Witsenia (1).
PatersonioideaeSubfamily
The Patersonioideae is a monogeneric subfamily with 34 species in Malesia, New Caledonia, and the shores of Australia. They are more or less woody, whizomatous plants with inner tepals that are absent or reduced to scales and broad stigma lobes.
Genera of the Patersonioideae Subfamily
Patersonia (26).
Key Differences From Similar Families
The Iridaceae can sometimes be confused with other bulbous plants of the Liliaceae. However, Liliaceae have 6 stamens and a superior ovary instead of 3 stamens and an inferior ovary in the Iridaceae.
They may also be confused with bulbous Amaryllidaceae. However, Amaryllidaceae usually have 6 stamens and very rarely have 3, and while most have inferior ovaries, some have superior ovaries.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Iridaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Iridaceae Family
The Iridaceae are mostly perennial herbs, rarely shrubs, with or without a basal aggregation of leaves. They are mostly rhizomatous or cormous but sometimes are bulbaceous. They are often helophytic but sometimes xerophytic.
Leaves are persistent or deciduous, alternate, usually distichous, flat or terete, herbaceous or leathery, sessile or petiolate, and odorless or sometimes foetid. Leaves are sheathing, with free or joined margins. Blades are simple, borne edgewise to the stem (often in two rows appearing fan-shaped) or with blades normally oriented. The lamina is entire and linear or lanceolate, with parallel veins and no cross-venules, and is dorsiventral, bifacial, or centric. Stomata are anomocytic. Lamina has secretory cavities filled with mucilage, while the mesophyll lacks mucilage cells but contains crystals.
Flowers of the Iridaceae Family
Iridaceae are hermaphrodites that usually have floral nectaries with secretion from the nectaries at the tepal bases (mostly) or from the gynoecium via septal nectaries in Ixioideae. Pollination is mostly entomophilous, sometimes ornithophilous, or rarely anemophilous. Flowers are solitary or aggregated in panicles, cymes, spikes, umbels, or corymbs, with ultimate inflorescence units when more than one flower is cymose or racemose. Inflorescences are spatheate (via one or two expanded bladeless sheaths) and nearly always scapiflorous, but some are reduced to a single almost sessile flower (Crocus) and are often difficult to interpret.
Flowers are small to large, actinomorphic or zygomorphic, 3-merous, tetracyclic (usually), and bracteate. A perigone tube is present, long or short. The perianth consists of 6 joined tepals in 2 whorls, which may be similar or different in the two whorls (the inner whorl is sometimes much smaller). It is isomerous and petaloid, appearing in white, yellow, red, purple, violet, blue, or blue-green. The three outer petals often spread horizontally, while the three inner petals stand upright, and the flower is often spotted.
Androecium of the Iridaceae Family
There are 3(2) androecial members, made up of exclusively fertile stamens that are free of the perianth or adnate to the tube and either free of others or coherent with filaments, often united into a basal tube (1 adelphous). Stamens appear in 1 whorl, alternating with the outer perianth lobes. Anthers are separate from one another (usually) or cohering (sometimes Homeria); basifixed; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; extrorse.
Gynoecium of the Iridaceae Family
The gynoecium is 3-carpeled and often partly petaloid, but it may be non-petaloid. The pistil is nearly always 3-celled, or only 1 cell in Isophysis. The gynoecium is synstylovarious and nearly always inferior and 3-locular, with the odd carpel anterior, or very rarely superior and 1-locular in Isophysis.
Styles 1, 3, or 6, depending on the interpretation of the lobes, which may be deeply subdivided and slender (Nemastylis), but they are also very often widely expanded and petaloid. Generally, the styles are interpreted as 3- or 1-trilobed styles. Styles are terminal, and a stylar canal is present. Stigmas are dry type, papillate, and Group II type. Placentation is nearly always axile except when unilocular, then parietal. Ovules are 2–50(1) per locule; they are arillate or non-arillate, anatropous, bitegmic, and crassinucellate.
Fruit of the Iridaceae Family
The fruits are non-fleshy, dehiscent loculicidal capsules. Capsules usually form behind flowers on the stalk side with 2 rows of large seeds in each locule. Seeds are endospermic and oily, but usually without starch.
Global Distribution of the Iridaceae
The Iridaceae family consists of widespread, almost cosmopolitan species that are noticeably absent only from the frigid areas of northern Eurasia.
In the Americas it is found from Arctic Canada and Greenland south through the USA, Mexico, Central America, and all of South America down to Tierra del Fuego.
Distribution of the Iridaceae in the Americas
Canadian IridaceaeGenera
Crocoideae in Canada
Crocosmia 1 sp. intro BC; Crocus 1 sp. intro ON.
Iridoideae in Canada
Iris 17 spp. are native in all of Canada, including the Arctic, but excluding NT and intro BC; Olsynium 1 sp. native to BC; Sisyrinchium 12 spp. native throughout all of Canada, including the Arctic (and 1 sp. Greenland), but excluding NU.
USA IridaceaeGenera
Aristeoideae in the USA
Aristea 1 sp. intro HI.
Crocoideae in the USA
Chasmanthe 1 sp. intro CA; Crocosmia 1 sp. intro OR, CA, TX, MS, FL, GA, SC, NC, and HI; Crocus 6 spp. intro OR, UT, VA, DE, NY, CT, MA; Freesia 2 spp. introduced in CA, FL; Gladiolus 7 spp. intro CA, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, TN, KY, IL, OH, PA; Ixia 3 spp. intro CA; Romulea 1 sp. intro CA; Sparaxis 2 spp. intro CA; Watsonia 3 spp. intro to CA and HI.
Iridoideae in the USA
Alophia 1 sp. native to TX, OK, AR, LA, MS; Calydorea 1 sp. native to FL, GA; Herbertia 1 sp. introduced to TX, LA, MS, FL; Iris 45 spp. native and intro in all of the USA and native to AK; Libertia 1 SAM sp. intro CA; Moraea 2 spp. intro CA; Nemastylis 4 spp. native AZ, TX, OK, KS, MO, AR, LA, MS, TN, FL, inc. 3 endemics, which inc. 1 narrow endemic of FL; Olsynium 1 sp. native to WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, ID; Salpingostylis monospecific endemic of FL; Sisyrinchium 39 spp. native and intro in all of the USA, inc. HI; native to AK; Trimezia 1 sp. intro FL and HI.
Mexico IridaceaeGenera
Crocoideae in Mexico
Crocosmia 4 spp. intro NL S throughout S Mexico; Freesia 1 sp. intro Tlx, Chp; Gladiolus 3 spp. intro Jal, Gto S to Chp; Melasphaerula 1 sp. intro Ver.
Iridoideae in Mexico
Alophia 4 spp. native to Mexico (exc. C), including 1 endemic each in Sin and Ver; Cipura 2 spp. Jal and SLP S to Chp and SE to Yuc; Dietes 2 spp. intro Chi, Dgo, and NL S to Ver; Eleutherine 1 sp. native to Hgo, Tab, and Ver; Iris 7 spp. native and intro to most of Mexico; Larentia 2 spp. endemic to W and S Mexico; Libertia 1 SAM sp. intro to Oax; Nemastylis 1 sp. native widespread N and C Mexico S to Pue; Orthrosanthus 2 spp. native to Chp, Gto, Oax, and SLP; Sisyrinchium 24 spp. widespread from N to S Mexico, but less common in Cam, QR, and Yuc; Tigridia ~50 spp. native throughout Mexico, a few widespread, and many restricted endemics;Trimezia 3-6 spp. native to C and S Mexico, NL, and Sin.
Neotropical IridaceaeGenera
Crocoideae in the Neotropics
Chasmanthe 1 sp. intro to NE Argentina; Crocosmia 1 sp. intro to Honduras, Hispaniola, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, and NE Argentina; Freesia 1 sp. intro NE Argentina; Gladiolus 1-2 spp. intro to Jamaica, Peru, and NE Argentina; Romulea 1 sp. intro to C Chile and NE Argentina; Sparaxis 1 sp. intro to NE Argentina.
Iridoideae in the Neotropics
Alophia 3 spp. native to most of CAM, Guyana, Bolivia, and Brazil, including 2 endemic to Brazil; Calydorea 21 spp. mostly SAM-endemic genera of Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, C Chile, and NW Argentina; Cipura 10 spp. native to CAM, Antilles, and tropical SAM, excluding Ecuador, Guyana, and Suriname; Cobana monospecific CAM endemic genus native to Guatemala and Honduras; Cypella 35 spp. SAM-endemic genus widespread in Peru, Bolivia, Brazil (exc. N), Paraguay, Uruguay, and NW Argentina; Dietes 1 sp. intro Jamaica; Eleutherine 3 spp. native to West Indies, N CAM, N+W SAM, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, including 2 SAM endemics; Ennealophus 6 spp. SAM endemic genus of Ecuador, Peru, N Brazil, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Gelasine 8 spp. SAM endemic genus of Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, and NE Argentina; Herbertia 12 spp. former SAM endemics native to Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, N+C Chile, Paraguay, S Brazil, Uruguay, and N Argentina; Hesperoxiphion 5 spp. W SAM endemic genera of Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru; Iris 1-2 spp. intro to Venezuela, the Antilles, El Salvador, and NE Argentina; Larentia 1 sp. SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay; Libertia ~12 spp. native and endemic from Colombia to Bolivia and Juan Fernández Island and C. Chile; Mastigostyla 29 spp. endemic genera of Andean SAM Puru, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Nemastylis 1 sp. native Guatemala and Honduras; Olsynium 17 spp. SAM endemic genus mostly of Andean SAM in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia, but some may be restricted to the Patagonia region; Orthrosanthus 5 spp. native to most of CAM, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, NW Argentina, and Bolivia; Sisyrinchium ~100+ spp. native to CAM, Cuba, and all of SAM except French Guyana and Suriname; Solenomelus 1 sp. endemic to C Chile; Tigridia ~7 spp. mostly Mexican endemic genus native to N CAM, Peru, and C Chile; Trimezia 70+ spp. native to CAM and most of N SAM, south to NE Argentina, with many in the highlands of Brazil, Venezuela, and Guyana.
Patagonia IridaceaeGenera
Iridoideae in Patagonia
Calydorea 1 sp. from Coquimbo just N of the region to Bio Bio at the N limit of the region; Libertia 5 spp. throughout C & S Chile, S Argentina, and Juan Fernandez Islands, with 3 restricted to Los Lagos, Chile; Olsynium 4-6 spp. throughout the Patagonia region S to Tierra Del Fuego, S Magallanes, and Falkland Islands; Sisyrinchium 4 spp. found throughout the region S to Magallanes, Chile, and Santa Cruz, Argentina; Solenomelus 1 sp. endemic to C Chile and S Argentina; Tapeinia 1 sp. endemic to S Chile in Bio Bio to Los Lagos, also in S Magallanes and S Argentina.
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA (1993+). Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. (2009+). Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO (2019+). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/
USDA, NRCS. 2020. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992+). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
30 May, 2026
1 May, 2026
Learn How to Identify the Asparagaceae or Asparagus Family
Yucca elata the soaptree yucca growing in its native Chihuahuan desert habitat. Page Last Updated September 8, 2026.
Introduction to the Asparagaceae Family
Welcome to the newly expanded Asparagaceae family! This one was a lot of work and fun to put together since my previous descriptions had split the family into several smaller families, but APG IV is saying that they now all belong together, based on modern phylogenetics.
Still, because the subfamilies can vary so much, I have kept much of my more detailed botanical information (see Scientific Botanical Description) separate to help you identify more at the subfamily level since the family level is so diverse and hard to characterize at that level.
Beginner’s Guide to the Asparagus (Asparagaceae) Family
If you’re new to plant morphology, this guide is a perfect beginner’s description for learning to identify the Asparagaceae family, with no need to know any scientific jargon. Below this section are morphology photos to help you identify the family, followed by pictures of individual species found in North America. But for researchers or those wanting to learn a more in-depth version, refer to the Scientific Botanical Descriptionbelow the images for highly detailed scientific descriptions and genus-level distribution data.
Leaves and Stemsof the Asparagus Family
There is tremendous diversity ranging from small perennial herbs from rhizomes or bulbs to vines, shrubs, and tree-like forms. Leaves vary from scale-like (with photosynthesis occurring in stems instead) to large, but they are often narrow and crowded into basal or terminal rosettes.
Flowersof the Asparagus Family
Flowers are usually rather small but can be showy, and they may appear singly but more often appear in dense spikes or branched inflorescences. They usually contain both male (stamens) and female (ovary, style, and stigma) parts in the same flower (bisexual). The flower is made of 6 usually petal-like tepals in 2 whorls, which may be free or partly fused into a tube.
Reproductive Featuresof the Asparagus Family
There are almost always 6 stamens, which are usually free of one another, and there is usually a single terminal style on top of the ovary.
Fruitsof the Asparagus Family
Fruits are either fleshy berries or dry capsules that split apart at maturity to release their seeds.
Morphology of Asparagaceae in North America
Agavoideae Subfamily Morphology in North America
Brodiaeoideae Subfamily Morphology in North America
Convallarioideae Subfamily Morphology in North America
Some Species of Asparagaceae Found in North America
Agavoideae Subfamily
Agave americana—Century Plant
Agave americana is a well-known Asparagaceae member that is often cultivated in xeriscape gardens, which is why this former southern North American endemic (USA and Mexico) is now widely introduced around the world. It is known for its massive basal rosette of huge spiny-edged and spiny-tipped blue-green leaves.
Agave parryi ssp neomexicana—New Mexico Agave
New Mexico agave is my favorite agave by far, with its cool geometric leaf pattern that always looks so perfect and its spiny-edged green or blue-green leaves with long spiny tips. It is a narrow subspecies found in New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico in the Chihuahua Desert.
Camassia quamash—Common Camas
The common cama may not look like most Agavoideae since it’s herbaceous and has showy blue or purple flowers, but when you see it in fruit, they certainly resemble agave capsules. This beauty is native to BC and Alberta, Canada, and the Pacific Northwest in the USA, south to California.
Yucca baccata—Banana Yucca
Many yuccas have no trunks like this one and instead produce basal groups of leaves with inflorescence stalks coming up from their center. Yucca flowers are typically very large and creamy white, like these. The “banana” part comes from its large, banana-shaped capsules it produces.
Yucca brevifolia—Joshua Tree
Still other yuccas form “trunks” that allow them to get taller, like soap tree yucca, Torrey’s yucca, and this Joshua tree, which is definitely the world’s tallest yucca. It is also becoming increasingly rare in its range due to climate change. It is native to California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona in the USA and also in northwestern Mexico.
Brodiaeoideae Subfamily
Triteleia grandiflora—Largeflower Triteleia
This beautiful herbaceous plant was growing in a moist ditch on the side of the road. Its leaves are grass-like and blended in with the grass it was growing with, but it produces the most gorgeous umbels of tubular purple flowers.
Convallarioideae Subfamily
Dasylirion wheeleri—Sotol
This iconic desert species has a dense basal rosette of sword-like leaves and produces massive inflorescences of rather small cream-colored flowers. This is another species in decline due to unethical harvesting, climate change, and very slow growth. It is native to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas as well as northern Mexico.
Nolina greenei—Woodland Beargrass
Don’t let the common name fool you; this clumpy native with grass-like leaves and showy inflorescences of small flowers is mostly found in the plains or very open woodlands. It is a narrow US endemic found only in Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
Maianthemum dilatatum—False Lily of the Valley
This gorgeous plant loves moist forests where it grows as an understory plant and groundcover. It has large heart-shaped leaves and small spike-like racemes of small white flowers. It is native to western North America from Alaska south along the Pacific to California.
Maianthemum racemosum—False Solomon’s Seal
This is one of the most common forest plants I find in this subfamily, as its native to almost all of Canada, the USA, and northern Mexico. It produces large, alternate leaves with parallel veins and somewhat dense terminal panicles of small white star-shaped flowers.
Polygonatum biflorum—Smooth Solomon’s Seal
The Polygonatum are often confused with Maianthemum because of their leaves, but these have bell-shaped flowers that hang down from the leaf axils beneath the plant instead of in terminal inflorescences. It is native throughout eastern North America.
Scillidoideae Subfamily
Hyacinthoides hispanica—Spanish Bluebell
This pretty herbaceous and bulbaceous perennial has a strap-shaped basal rosette of leaves and inflorescences of pretty purple bell flowers. Like most Scillidoideae members, however, it is not native but has escaped cultivation in the northwest and northeast of North America.
Uses of the Asparagus Family
There are numerous cultivated ornamentals from the Agavoideae, Convallarioideae, and Scillioideae subfamilies grown for their striking flowers or evergreen foliage.
Culinary asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) and agave sap for the production of alcohol and syrup are of major economic importance.
Many Agave and Yucca species are also used for fibers, mostly locally, but some are used commercially on a small scale.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of Asparagaceae
As a diverse family with many species, the Asparagaceae provide significant ecosystem services, especially in arid, coastal, and marginal habitats, providing food (nectar, foliage, and fruits) for various wildlife. They create microhabitats for beneficial insects and pollinators, and many species are drought-tolerant, making them useful for soil stabilization in arid habitats. However, some species can become aggressive and invasive outside their native range and degrade native habitats.
Taxonomy of the Asparagaceae Family
There are now approximately 2,595 to 2,900 species in 153 genera of the Asparagaceae family, which is part of the Asparagales order of non-commelinid monocots. Not that long ago, the Asparagaceae family had only 2 genera, but it has been expanded to include 7 subfamilies described below. This is one of those families that, as a whole, are difficult to characterize.
As the taxonomy of this family is still under debate, a few genera are currently listed in more than one subfamily because I (and APG IV) am uncertain where to place them. This section will be updated when new information comes available and the sources start to agree more.
Agavoideae Subfamily
The Agavoideae subfamily—formerly the Agavaceae family—has about 25 genera and 637 species that are pantropical, subtropical, and rarely southern temperate, with the majority found in SW North America. They are herbs, shrubs, or arborescent, with a basal aggregation of leaves and flowers in large, much-branched panicles.
This tiny subfamily consists of a single species endemic to the western Mediterranean. It is easy to recognize because it has tufts of photosynthetic, scapose inflorescences and scarious, non-photosynthetic leaves at their bases.
Genera of the Aphyllanthoideae Subfamily
Monospecific Aphyllanthes monspeliensis (W Mediterranean).
Asparagoideae Subfamily
The Asparagoideae only contains 2 genera, but over 220 species are found mostly in Africa, Europe, and Asia but also Australia and the Pacific Islands, and one genus is native to Mexico. They are herbs or shrubs that often climb and are easy to recognize by their very reduced leaves using photosynthetic stems (cladodes and/or phylloclades) instead.
Genera of the Asparagoideae Subfamily
Asparagus (211), Hemiphylacus (5).
Brodiaeoideae Subfamily
The Brodiaeoideae is a small subfamily of about 12 genera and 62 species found in SW North America from British Columbia, Canada, south to Guatemala. They look very similar to wild onions with umbels of small flowers and a superior ovary, but they have corms and do not smell of onions.
The Convallarioideae is a large subfamily of 605 species in 26 genera found in North America, Central America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and northern Australia. They can usually be differentiated fairly easily from the rest of the family by being mostly herbs (except Dracaena, which may also be shrubs or trees) and having well-developed leaves and inflorescences that are typically not scapiflorous.
The Lomandroideae is a subfamily of approximately 200 species in 12 genera that are mostly Australian, but with some also in Asia, Madagascar, and South America. They are mostly tough perennial herbs, with some shrubs.
The Scilloideae is a large subfamily of about 996 species in 37 genera found in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Southwest Asia, with one genus found in South America. They are bulbous geophytes with scapose inflorescences.
Because the Asparagaceae is itself so diverse, it makes it challenging to compare the family with other families and make generalizations. Still, they are sometimes confused with Amaryllidaceae, especially the Allioideae, because they have 6 stamens and a superior ovary, but the Allioideae mostly produce flowers in umbels and nearly always release onion or garlic compounds when bruised, while the rest of the Amaryllidaceae have an inferior ovary.
They are also sometimes confused with some members of the Liliaceae with their superior ovaries and lack of onion scents, but there are no phytomelanin compounds present on their brown or pale seeds, and the nectaries are located at the tepal base.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Asparagaceae Family
Since the new broader Asparagaceae has been greatly expanded and my previous descriptions covered 4 families, plus one I had not covered, I am keeping the information I have on subfamilies separate. Since the subfamilies are more morphologically distinct, while the family as a whole is not, I feel that keeping them separate allows for better, more useful comparisons than if I were to rewrite them lumped together. So I will begin each section with the traits they have in common, followed by how the major subfamilies differ.
Habit & Leaf Form of the Asparagaceae Family
The plants of the Aspargaceae are always perennial when they are herbs, with most coming from rhizomes. Leaves vary in size from minimal to quite large but are always arranged alternately. The lamina is always entire, the margins are almost always entire, and the leaves are mostly sessile and sheathing with free margins. The leaves are mostly parallel-veined and lack cross-venules and stipules.
Agavoideae Habit and Leaves
These are xerophytic herbs, shrubs, or arborescent pachycaul trees, rarely epiphytic. They may be succulent and typically have basal or terminal aggregations of leaves of variable size that are simple, alternate spiral, flat or terete, and leathery, fleshy, or both. Blades may be borne normally or edgewise to the stem and are lanceolate, linear, or subulate. Lamina margins may be entire or serrated, often sharp-pointed with lateral and terminal spines.
Asparagoideae Habit and Leaves
Mostly switch plants that photosynthesize through stems (axillary clusters of cladodes) while the leaves are reduced to small bract-like features or membranous scales, but they are still more or less sheathing. They are perennial herbs from rhizomes, self-supporting or climbing vines, or shrubs.
Brodiaeoideae Habit and Leaves
Herbs with basal aggregations of linear leaves that may be fleshy and often appear similar to Amaryllidaceae-Allioideae plants, but they never smell of onions and come from fibrous corms rather than bulbs.
Convallarioideae Habit and Leaves
Mesophytic subfamily of mostly herbs with well-developed leaves, with or without a basal aggregation. Dracaena are also often shrubs or trees. Stems are fibrous and do not break easily at the nodes, and they may come from either rhizomatous or tuberous roots. Leaves are alternate and spiral or distichous, herbaceous or leathery, and petiolate to sessile. Leaves are often lanceolate, oblong, or ovate, and they have varying veination that may be palmately, parallel, or pinnately veined and may also have cross-venules. Leaf bases are cordate, attenuate, cuneate, or oblique. Leaves are flat with entire margins.
Scilloideae Habit and Leaves
These are mesophytic herbs with a basal aggregation of leaves (occasionally only two), but they are mostly bulbaceous with only some rhizomatous (Chlorogalum, Schoenolirion). Leaves are usually alternate spiral or alternate distichous when reduced to two. Leaves are simple, with blades normally oriented. The lamina is entire and mostly linear but rarely ovate or orbicular.
Flowers of the Asparagaceae Family
Most Asparagaceae flowers are hermaphrodites, and floral nectaries with secretion from the gynoecium via septal nectaries are virtually always present. The perianth is always made of tepals, which are almost always 6 in number, free or joined, isomerous, and 2-whorled and usually similar in the 2 whorls. Flowers are always 3-merous, and the perigone tube may be present or absent.
Agavoideae Flowers
Plants may sometimes be andromonoecious, gynomonoecious, or dioecious. Flowers are aggregated in large, branched terminal panicles that may be scapiflorous or not. Flowers are bracteate, regular to somewhat zygomorphic, pentacyclic, with a petaloid perianth.
Brodiaeoideae Flowers
The inflorescence is almost always an umbel, rarely a single flower, and it is terminal and scapiflorous, typically with 2-4 or up to 10 inflorescence bracts. Flowers are regular and typically united into a tube with 6 lobes; they are often purple or bluish-violet in color.
Asparagoideae Flowers
Sometimes flowers are monoecious, dioecious, or polygamomonoecious, with female flowers having staminodes. Flowers may be solitary or aggregated in cymes, racemes, or umbels and typically emerge from a spathe-like bract. Flowers are small, regular, and cyclic. A hypogynous disk is absent. The perianth may be sepaloid or petaloid, green, white, or yellow.
Convallarioideae Flowers
Flowers are usually aggregated in cymose or racemose inflorescences, sometimes panicles, scapiflorous or not, terminal or axillary, and may appear singly but always lack a spathe. Flowers are small to medium, regular, 3(4)-merous, and pentacyclic. A perigone tube is usually present (campanulate or urceolate). The perianth is petaloid, usually 6 but sometimes 8 (4+4), in white, greenish, or rarely other colors.
Scilloideae Flowers
Plants are sometimes polygammonocious. Flowers are aggregated in scapiflorous racemose racemes, spikes, and heads. Flowers are bracteate (at least in the lower inflorescence), small to medium in size, usually regular but may be variously irregular, and are pentacyclic. The perigone tube is usually present (usually campanulate, urceolate, or tubular). The perianth is petaloid and may be similar or different in the two whorls, in white, yellow, red, violet, blue, brown, or black.
Androecium of the Asparagaceae Family
The Asparagaceae almost always have 6 androecial members, usually 6 fertile stamens, usually diplostemonous, usually free of one another, and usually 2 whorled. Anthers are dorsifixed or basifixed, dehiscing via longitudinal slits, and are usually introrse.
Agavoideae Androecium
6 members are adnate to or free from the perianth. Exclusively fertile stamens or 3 stamens + 3 staminodes; isomerous or diplostemonous. Anthers are always dorsifixed.
Asparagoideae Androecium
Exclusively fertile in male and hermaphrodite flowers with stamens adnate to the base of the perianth.
Brodiaeoideae Androecium
There may be 6 fertile stamens or 3 alternating with 3 staminodes; all are adnate to the perianth. Anthers are always basifixed.
Convallariodeae Androecium
Rarely there are 8 or 4 androecial members instead of the usual 6; they are exclusively fertile stamens, and they are free of the perianth or often are inserted high in the tube. They may be equal or unequal, free from one another, or coherent 1-adelphous in Peliosanthes. Anthers are usually basifixed or dorsifixed (Reineckea).
Scilloideae Androecium
Usually 6 in 2 whorls but sometimes reduced to 3 members in 1 whorl (e.g., Albuca). Members may be free or adnate to the tube. The androecium occasionally contains 3 staminodes external to the fertile stamens. Filaments are often broad and flat and may be appendiculate by lobes on either side of the anther. Anthers are dorsifixed (epipeltate).
Gynoecium of the Asparagaceae Family
The gynoecium is virtually always 3-carpeled, isomerous with the perianth, and the pistil is virtually always 3-celled, and the ovary is virtually always 3-locular with axile placentation. There is usually a single terminal style.
Agavoideae Gynoecium
The gynoecium is syncarpous, superior to inferior. Stigmas are wet or dry types, papillate, and Group II, III, or IV types. Ovules 6–50 per locule; anatropous; crassinucellate.
Asparagoideae Gynoecium
The gynoecium is synstylovarious to syncarpous and superior. The style is often rather short, and a stylar canal is present. Stigmas are of the wet or dry type. Ovules are 2–12 per locule; they are non-arillate, crassinucellate, and hemianatropous, anatropous, or orthotropous.
Brodiaeoideae Gynoecium
The ovary is always superior.
Convallarioideae Gynoecium
There may sometimes be 4 carpels, 4-celled pistils, and 4-locular ovaries, but these are rare. The gynoecium is syncarpous, superior to inferior, and may or may not be stylate with a stylar canal present. Stigma 1, capitate or lobulate, dry type, and papillate. Placentation may be basal, axile, or apical with 2-4 ovules per locule; anatropous to campylotropous; and mostly crassinucellate or rarely pseudocrassinucellate.
Scillioideae Gynoecium
The gynoecium is syncarpous and superior and may be stylate or not. When present, styles are attenuated from the ovary or from a depression at the top of the ovary; the stylar canal is present. Stigmas are 1 or 3 in number, of wet or dry type, and papillate. Ovules 2–50 per locule, usually non-arillate (except in Lachenalia), anatropous, bitegmic, and crassinucellate or pseudocrassinucellate.
Fruit of the Asparagaceae Family
The fruits may be dehiscent capsules (always Scillioideae and Brodiaeoideae) or indehiscent berries (always Asparagoideae, usually Convallarioideae). Seeds are always endospermic and oily, and the testa is almost always encrusted with phytomelan in Agavoideae, Brodiaeoideae, and Scillioideae but not in Convallarioideae (unsure about Asparagoideae).
Global Distribution of the Asparagaceae
Under this broader definition, the Asparagaceae are temperate, subtropical, and pantropical and are especially widespread in the Old World.
In the American continents, the Asparagaceae are still widely spread, found from Canada south through the USA, Mexico, Central America, and into southern South America.
Distribution of the Asparagaceae in the Americas
Canadian AsparagaceaeGenera
Agavoideae in Canada
Camassia 3 spp. native to BC, AB, and ON; Hosta 1 spp. intro to QC; Yucca 3 spp. native to AB and introduced to ON and SK.
Asparagoideae in Canada
Asparagus 1 sp. intro in all southern provinces except Labrador.
Brodiaeoideae in Canada
Brodiaea 1 sp. native to BC; Triteleia 2-3 spp. native to BC.
Convallarioideae in Canada
Convallaria 1 sp. intro ON, QC, SK, and NL Island; Maianthemum 6 spp. native in all of Canada, including the Arctic; Polygonatum 3 spp. native SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS.
Scilloideae in Canada
Hyacinthoides 3 spp. intro to BC, ON, NL (exc. Labrador); Muscari 3 spp. intro to BC, ON, NL (exc. Labrador); Ornithogalum 2 spp. intro BC, ON, QC, NB, NS, NL Island; Puschkinia 1 sp. intro to ON; Scilla 3 spp. intro to BC, QC, ON, NB.
USA AsparagaceaeGenera
Agavoideae in the USA
Agave ~30 spp. (inc. Manfreda) native and intro CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX, OK, LA, AR, MO, IL, IN, OH, VA, MD, KY, TN, MS, AL, GA, SC, NC, and FL, and intro HI; Camassia 6 spp. native WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, ID, MT, WY, TX, OK, KS, IA, MO, AR, LA, WI, IL, IN, OH, MI, PA, MD, WV, VA, KY, TN, MS, AL, GA, SC, NC, including 3 endemics; Chlorogalum 3-5 spp. endemic genera of OR, CA; Chlorophytum 2 spp. intro to CA, FL, GA; Echeandia 4 spp. native to AZ, NM, and TX (1 endemic); Furcraea 2 spp. native and intro to FL and intro to HI; Hastingsia 4 spp. endemic genera of OR, CA; Hesperaloe 2 spp. native to TX, including 1 endemic; Hesperocallis monospecific NAM endemic native in CA, NV, and AZ; Hesperoyucca 2 spp. inc. 1 endemic to CA and AZ; Hosta 4 spp. introduced to NE states; Leucocrinum monospecific W USA endemic exc. WA, OK, and TX; Schoenolirion 3 spp. endemic genera of TX, LA, AR, TN, NC, SC, AL, GA, and FL; Yucca 29 spp. native in most of the USA, except WA, OR, ID, MN, VT, NH, and ME.
Asparagoideae in the USA
Asparagus 4 spp. intro in all of the USA, inc. HI.
Brodiaeoideae in the USA
Androstephium 2 spp. SW USA endemic genera of CA, NV, UT, AZ, WY, CO, NM, KS, OK, TX; Bloomeria 2 spp. native, including 1 endemic to CA; Brodiaea 16 spp. native, including many endemics to WA, OR, CA; Dichelostemma 4-6 spp. W USA endemic genera of WA, OR, CA; Milla 1 sp. native to AZ, NM, TX; Muilla 4 spp. native, including 3 endemics of CA, NV, NM; Triteleia 15 spp. native to WA, OR, CA, NV, AZ, UT, CO, WY, ID, MT, including ~11 endemics; Triteleiopsis 1 sp. native to AZ.
Convallarioideae in the USA
Aspidistra 1 sp. intro in AL, AR, and FL; Convallaria 2 spp native and intro in most of the E USA from MN S to LA and all E of that except LA, MS, FL, SC, and inc KS, MT, UT, WA, OR; Dasylirion 4 spp. native to AZ, NM, and TX (1 narrow endemic); Dracaena (Sanseviera) 2 spp. intro to FL; Liriope 2 spp. intro to IL, VA, MD, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC; Maianthemum 5 spp. native throughout the entire USA, including AK; Nolina 14 spp. native to CA, NV, AZ, NM, CO, OK, TX, FL, GA, and SC, inc. 7 endemics; Ophiopogon 1 sp. intro in AR, and AL; Polygonatum 4 spp. native and intro in most of the USA except WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, UT, and CO.
Scilloideae in the USA
Hooveria 2 spp. inc. 1 endemic native to CA; Hyacinthoides 3 spp. intro WA, OR, IN, OH, KY, TN, NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, PA, NY, CT; Hyacinthus 1 sp. intro to CA, UT, TX, KY, VA, PA; Muscari 4 spp. introduced in much of the USA, except ID, MT, WY, NV, AZ, ND, SD, NE, OK, IA, ME; Ornithogalum 5 spp. introduced in most of the USA, except MT, WY, CO, NM, NV, AZ; Scilla 1 sp. intro UT, MN, IA, MO, WI, IL, KY, IN, OH, MI, PA, NJ, DE, NY, CT, NH.
Mexico AsparagaceaeGenera
Agavoideae in Mexico
Agave ~200 spp. native, inc. ~100 endemics, widespread throughout all of Mexico; Beschorneria 10 spp. native to most of Mexico except the NW, includes 9 endemics; Chlorophytum 1 sp. intro, scattered throughout most of Mexico exc. Cmp, Coa, Son; Echeandia 74 spp. native throughout all of Mexico, including 63 endemics; Echinoagave 12 spp. endemic genera of N, C, and W Mexico; Furcraea 12 spp. native, inc. 4 endemics tropical S Mexico, Chp, Gro, Mch, Mex, Oax, Pue, QR, Tam, Ver, Yuc; Hesperaloe 7 spp. native Coa, NL, SLP, Son, Tam, including 6 endemics;Hesperocallis monospecific NAM endemic native in NW Mexico; Hesperoyucca 1 sp. native Ags, BC, BCS, Cd Mex, Dgo, Gto, Hgo, Pue; Paleoagave monospecific endemic of NW Mexico; Paraagave monospecific endemic of Mexico Gulf and SW; Yucca ~40 spp. inc. at least 13 endemics widespread throughout Mexico.
Asparagoideae in Mexico
Asparagus 5 spp. intro most of Mexico exc. N Son, Coa, Tam; Hemiphylacus 5 spp. endemic genera of Ags, Coa, Gto, NL, Oax, Pue, Qro, SLP.
Brodiaeoideae in Mexico
Bessera 4 spp. endemic genera of Mexico, B. elegans C + S Mexico, B. tenuiflora BC, BCS, B. tuitensis Jal; Bloomeria 2 spp. native to N BC, including 1 endemic; Brodiaea 2 spp. native to N BC; Dandya monospecific endemic of NE Mexico; Dichelostemma 1 sp.? native to BC, BCS, W Chi, N Son; Milla 16 spp. native, including 14-15 endemic to Coa, Gro, Mor, NL, Oax, Pue, SLP; Muilla 1 sp. native to N BC; Petronymphe 2 spp. endemic genera of SW Mexico; Triteleia 1 sp. native to NW Mexico; Triteleiopsis 1 sp. native to BC, BCS, and Son.
Convallarioideae in Mexico
Aspidistra 1 sp. intro NW, SW, and NW Gulf of Mexico; Beaucarnea 12 spp. native throughout Mexico exc. NW, inlcuding 10-11 endemics; Dasylirion 23 spp., mostly endemics native to most of Mexico exc. the tropical south; Dracaena 1 of 2 Americas spp. native to S Mexico, plus 2 spp. (former Sansevieria) intro to most of Mexico exc. N deserts of BC, Coa, and Son; Liriope 2 spp. intro Sin, Cd Mex, Mor, Ver, Chp; Maianthemum 9 spp. native to Chi, Chp, Dgo, Oax, Ver, including 4 endemics; Nolina 21 spp. native to most of Mexico except the far south, including 13 endemics; Ophiopogon 1 sp. Cd Mex, Pue, Zac; Polygonatum 2 spp. native to Son, Dgo, and Ver.
Lomandroideae in Mexico
Cordyline 1 sp. intro throughout S. Mexico.
Scilloideae in Mexico
Albuca 1 sp. intro to Pue; Hooveria 1 sp. native to NW Mexico; Hyacinthus 1 sp. intro to C. Mexico; Muscari 1 sp. intro to Sin and Ver; Ornithogalum 5 spp. introduced in C. Mexico.
Neotropical AsparagaceaeGenera
Agavoideae in the Neotropics
Agave 100+ spp., native throughout CAM, most of the Antilles and Caribbean, Bermuda, S to Colombia and Venezuela, now intro to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, E Brazil, and NE Argentina; Beschorneria 1 sp., mostly Mexico-endemic genera, found in dry Guatemala and Honduras; Chlorophytum 1 sp. intro to Ecuador and Juan Fernandez Island; Diamena monospecific endemic genus of Peru; Diora monospecific narrow endemic genus of Peru; Echeandia ~8 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, NW Argentina, mostly SAM endemics; Furcraea 25 extant spp. native to Mexico, the Caribbean, CAM, and N. SAM; Hagenbachia 6 spp. neoendemic genera in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and Paraguay; Herreria 8 spp. SAM endemic genera native to Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, and C Chile; Yucca ~10 spp. native to hot, arid parts of CAM, Bermuda, and intro to the Antilles, El Salvador, Ecuador, Bolivia, North Argentina, and Uruguay.
Asparagoideae in the Neotropics
Asparagus 1 sp. introduced to Brazil, the Antilles, Bermuda, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Galápagos.
Brodiaeoideae in the Neotropics
Milla 1 sp. native to Guatemala and Honduras.
Convallarioideae in the Neotropics
Aspidistra 1 sp. intro El Salvador; Beaucarnea 2 spp. native to Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua; Dracaena 2 Americas spp. native to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia and 1 sp. endemic to Cuba and introduced to other Antilles, El Salvador, and Ecuador; Maianthemum 8 spp. native to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, including 2+ narrow endemics; Ophiopogon 1 sp. introduced in NE Argentina.
Lomandroideae in the Neotropics
Cordyline 1 neoendemic species native to S and SE Brazil, Bolivia, N Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, with most species in the Pacific Islands and Australia;Trichopetalum 1 sp. narrow endemic of C Chile.
Scilloideae in the Neotropics
Hyacinthus 1 sp. intro to Cuba; Oziroe 5 SAM endemic spp. native to Peru, Bolivia, and Chile S to C Chile in Maule, Argentina.
Patagonia AsparagaceaeGenera
Agavoideae in Patagonia
Herreria 1 sp. native to Bio Bio, Chile, in the N end of the region.
Asparagoideae in Patagonia
Asparagus 1 sp. introduced in S Argentina.
Lomandroideae in Patagonia
Trichopetalum 1-2 spp., both narrow endemics, one of Nequem, Argentina, and 1 of C Chile, which may also be in the temperate zone.
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA (1993+). Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. (2009+). Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO (2019+). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/
USDA, NRCS. 2020. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992+). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
1 May, 2026
30 Apr, 2026
How to Identify the Amaryllidaceae or Amaryllis Family
Hymenocallis liriosme is a native Amaryllidaceae of the southeastern USA. Page Last Updated September 8, 2026.
Introduction to the Amaryllidaceae Family
The Amaryllidaceae family is a gorgeous family of often showy flowers, making them popular in gardens and the cut flower industry. My first experience with the family is with wild onion (Allium) species, which produce small umbels of lovely flowers and often smell like the onions we eat due to the presence of sulfide compounds. These are common in temperate climates, and when I went further south I got to explore the more large-flowered species of the Amarylidoideae subfamily, which are virtually all worthy of a spot in your native garden.
Beginner’s Guide to the Amaryllis (Amaryllidaceae) Family
If you’re new to plant morphology, this guide is a perfect beginner’s description for learning to identify the Amaryllidaceae family, with no need to know any scientific jargon. Below this section are morphology photos to help you identify the family, followed by pictures of individual species found in North America. But for researchers or those wanting to learn a more in-depth version, refer to the Scientific Botanical Descriptionbelow the images for highly detailed scientific descriptions and genus-level distribution data.
Leaves and Stemsof the Amaryllis Family
The Amaryllis family is a family of mostly herbaceous bulbs, although some genera have rhizomes (thick roots). They usually have a grouping of leaves from their base, often lacking stems altogether, with leaves that are simple and often flat, rounded, or angular and may be onion-scented in the onion subfamily.
Flowersof the Amaryllis Family
Flowers always contain both male (stamens) and female (ovary, stigma, and style) parts in the same flower (bisexual). They may appear on their own or grouped in various inflorescences, often umbel-like, on leafless stalks (scapes), often enclosed in spathe-like bracts at the base. Flowers are made of 6 petal-like tepals in 2 whorls, but some have an extra inner whorl (corona) that may come in a wide range of colors.
Reproductive Featuresof the Amaryllis Family
There are nearly always 6 stamens in 2 whorls (3+3), but occasionally they are fused at the base or into a tube, and they may or may not have appendages at their base. The ovary almost always has 3 chambers (locules) with a single, usually terminal style.
Fruitsof the Amaryllis Family
Fruits are nearly always dry capsules that split apart when mature, but rarely is it a berry.
Morphology of Amaryllidaceae in North America
Some Species of Amaryllidaceae Found in North America
Allioideae Subfamily
Allium drummondii—Drummond’s Onion
This bulb-forming perennial smells mildly of onion and produces pretty umbels of pink or white flowers every spring. It is a very common native, considered invasive in some areas, especially in Texas, where it is very abundant. However, it is native to the south-central United States (including Texas) and south into northeastern Mexico.
Allium textile—Textile Onion
This lovely wild onion produces egg-shaped bulbs and a leafless scape up to 40 cm tall with bell-shaped flowers with yellow anthers and pollen. It is native to the Canadian prairies (AB, SK, MB) and south through the plains and Rocky Mountain region as far south as northern New Mexico.
Allium vineale—Wild Garlic
This one is easy to identify, as it smells strongly of garlic and produces a unique inflorescence of bulbils rather than flowers (no to few flowers) that often start growing while still attached, like this one in the photo. It is native to Europe and Africa and is becoming invasive in North America.
Nothoscordum bivalve—Crow Poison
This bulbous perennial produces 1 to 4 narrow leaves, each up to 30 cm long, and an umbel of 3 to 6 flowers with whitish tepals and a dark midvein; it does not smell of garlic or onion. It is native to the southeastern USA, Mexico, and South America.
Amaryllidoideae Subfamily
Hymenocallis liriosme—Texas Spider-Lily
This beautiful native plant produces wide, flat, strappy leaves and few-flowered umbels, each with large white flowers that have conspicuous long, skinny tepals and a prominent yellow-green ‘eye’ in the center. It is endemic to the southeastern USA.
Narcissus jonquilla—Rush Daffodil
This variety is one of several daffodil species that have been introduced to North America; this one was growing in a forest in Virginia, USA. Daffodils have a corona in the center that is often very large and usually yellow, surrounding the reproductive parts of the flower.
Uses of the Amaryllidaceae
There are numerous cultivated species in this family for their often large and showy colorful flowers, including common garden plants and cut flowers like daffodils, snowdrops, numerous lily-like plants, and others from the Amaryllis, Crinum, Sternbergia, Nerine, and Clivia genera. There are also several vegetables from the Allioideae subfamily, including onions, chives, leeks, and garlic. A small number of species are used medicinally, mostly in indigenous medicines.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Amaryllidaceae
The Amaryllidaceae often provide food and habitat for insects, pollinators, and small animals. Animals will feed on the bulbous roots while countless pollinators flock to the floral nectaries found in their flowers.
Many species are also known for their ecological resilience in dry or harsh environments. This family are renowned for their ecological resilience in dry or challenging environments and for producing specialized compounds that serve both ecological and medicinal functions.
Taxonomy of the Amaryllidaceae Family
The Amaryllidaceae is a family with 1,605 species in 73 genera of the Asparagales order of non-commelinid monocots. It was and occasionally may still be found included in the Liliaceae family, but molecular phylogenetics does not support this classification. Furthermore, sometimes the Allioideae is separated, but under the current description it is a subfamily, and we have included it here. The Amaryllidaceae currently has 3 accepted subfamilies:
Agapanthoideae Subfamily
The Agapanthoideae is a small family of 1 genus and 8 species from South Africa. They are robust rhizomatous herbs with fleshy two-ranked leaves and scapose umbellate inflorescences of mostly large blue flowers.
Genera of the Agapanthoideae Subfamily
Agapanthus (8).
Allioideae Subfamily
The Allioideae is a large subfamily (the former onion family) of 795 species, almost entirely in the Northern Hemisphere, from cold temperate to subtropical climates. They are characterized by being bulbous or rhizomatous perennials with a characteristic onion odor from sulfur compounds, spiral leaves with closed sheaths, and laticifers.
Genera of the Allioideae Subfamily
Allium (970-1112),Atacamallium (1),Gilliesia (13 inc. Solaria), Ipheion (3), Latace (2), Leucocoryne (48), Miersia (11 inc. Speea), Nothoscordum (94), Schickendantziella (1), Trichlora (4), Tristagma (17), and Tulbaghia (28).
Amaryllidoideae Subfamily
The Amaryllidoideae is the largest subfamily, with 900 species in 75 genera; they are mostly tropical, especially in South America and Africa. They are mostly perennial bulbous geophytes with strap-shaped leaves and showy flowers.
This family can be confused with other plants with storage organs, including the Iridaceae. However, they can be differentiated easily when in flower because the Iridaceae always has 3 stamens instead of 6.
The Amaryllidaceae, particularly certain members of the Allioideae subfamily, can also be confused with some Liliaceae, which have 6 stamens and a superior ovary. However, Liliaceae flowers are typically aggregated in racemes, panicles, or spikes rather than umbels, and when umbel-like clusters do occur, they lack the membranous spathe bracts that Amaryllidaceae typically have. Furthermore, most Allioideae produce unique sulferous compounds that smell of garlic or onions when crushed, and most possess basal aggregations of leaves, while Liliaceae lack the sulfur compounds and have cauline leaves instead.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Amaryllidaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Amaryllidaceae Family
The Amaryllidaceae are a family of mostly geophyte herbs, occasionally epiphytes or aquatics, that may be herbaceous or succulent, often deciduous. Most of the family is bulbous, a key characteristic, but some are rhizomatous (Agapanthus, Clivia, and Scadoxus), and some may appear transitional between the two. They are perennials that usually (but not always) have a basal aggregation of leaves. Hydrophytes are rooted and have their leaves submerged. Most others are mesophytic, but xerophytic herbs are also seen.
Leaves are mostly alternate distichous but can be spiral (e.g., Crinum), sessile (usually), or nearly petiolate. They are always sheathing, typically with free margins. Leaves are simple, entire, linear, lanceolate, oblong, ovate, or orbicular and may be flat, rolled, terete, or angular. In Allioideae, they are often onion-scented due to allylic sulfide compounds. Leaves are parallel-veined and never have cross-veins. Lamina margins are entire. Leaf development is graminaceous. Stomata are present and anomocytic. Mesophyll, often with mucilage cells and crystal raphides, may be laticiferous in Allioideae.
Flowers of the Amaryllidaceae Family
Plants of the Amaryllidaceae family are always hermaphrodites with floral nectaries, mostly from the gynoecium from septal nectaries; pollination is mostly entomophilous. Flowers may be solitary or aggregated in condensed cymes, umbels, umbellate helicoid cymes (esp. Allioideae), or heads (by condensation). Inflorescences are scapiflorous, usually with involucral bracts (mostly with 2 (1–8), typically spathe-like, free or connate scales).
Flowers are actinomorphic to very irregular and somewhat zygomorphic, 3-merous, and tetracyclic or pentacyclic. The perigone tube may be present (short to long) or absent. The perianth is made of 6 tepals, free to join into a floral tube at the base, arranged in 2 whorls (3+3 but often with a conspicuous corona-like extra inner whorl) that are isomerous and similar in the two whorls. They are generally petaloid tepals that may be green, white, cream, yellow, red, pink, purple, brown, or various combinations, with blue or violet sometimes seen in Allioideae. Tepal apex trichomes (TAT) are present in some genera.
Androecium of the Amaryllidaceae Family
There are nearly always 6 (3-18) androecial members in 2 whorls (3+3), except for Gethyllis, which has 9-18 stamens. They are free of the perianth or adnate to the base of the tube or tepals (always adnate in Allioideae); they are mostly free of one another, but they may be coherent, 1-adelphous, or basally connate (Allium). The androecium is almost always exclusively fertile stamens; they are isomerous with the perianth (mostly Allioideae) or otherwise nearly always diplostemonous, alterniperianth, or occasionally opposiperianth in Allioideae.
Stamens have flat filaments in Allioideae and are often appendiculate in Amarylidoideae with connate filaments sometimes expanded to form a staminal corona. Anthers are nearly always dorsifixed, usually versatile, dehiscing via longitudinal slits or pores, and usually introrse or sometimes latrorse (Crinum).
Gynoecium of the Amaryllidaceae Family
The gynoecium is always 3-carpelled and isomerous with the perianth; the pistil is usually 3-celled (rarely 1). The gynoecium is mostly syncarpous and mostly inferior in Amarylidoideae, but always superior in Allioideae.
The ovary is almost always 3-locular with one terminal style (Amaryllidoideae, most Allioideae) or gynobasic (sometimes in Allioideae). There may be 1 or 3 stigmas that are capitate to 3-lobed with a papillate surface that is mostly dry but sometimes wet.
Placentation is basal when unilocular (Calostemma), and when trilocular it is usually axile (always in Allioideae) or rarely basal. Ovules range from 1 to 50 per locule; they are non-arillate and can be anatropous or usually campylotropous in Allioideae. Integuments are either unitegmic or bitegmic (usually) and are rarely absent; they can also be crassinucellate or pseudocrassinucellate.
Fruit of the Amaryllidaceae Family
The fruits are mostly non-fleshy dehiscent capsules or rarely a fleshy indehiscent berry. Seeds are endospermic and always contain oil instead of starch and may be winged (e.g., Agapanthus) or not. Allioideae testae are encrusted with black phytomelan.
Global Distribution of Amaryllidaceae
The Amaryllidaceae is a widespread, nearly cosmopolitan family, but mostly paleotropical and neotropical, with some subtropical and temperate taxa (especially in the Allioideae).
In the Americas this family is found in Canada (including the Arctic), the USA, and south through Mexico, the Antilles, Central America, and South America to the southernmost region.
Distribution of Amaryllidaceae in the Americas
Canadian AmaryllidaceaeGenera
Allioideae in Canada
Allium 17 spp. native to all of Canada, including the Arctic, except PE.
Amaryllidoideae in Canada
Galanthus 2 spp. intro to ON, NB, and NL Island; Leucojum 1 sp. intro to ON, NS; Narcissus 3 spp. intro to BC, ON, ephemeral NB, QC, and NL Island.
USA AmaryllidaceaeGenera
Agapanthoideae in the USA
Agapanthus1 sp. intro to CA.
Allioideae in the USA
Allium 103 spp. native and introduced in all of the USA, inc. AK; Ipheion 1 sp. introduced to OR, CA, TX, AL, and VA; Nothoscordum 4 spp. native to most of the S half of the USA, from AZ E to NJ and all states S exc. NV, UT, CO, PA, NJ, WV, MD, and DE, and introduced in CA; Tristagma 1 sp. introduced to OR, CA, TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, and VA.
Amaryllidoideae in the USA
Amaryllis 1 sp. intro to CA, LA; Cooperia 5 spp. native NM, TX, OK, KS, AR, LA, MS, AL, FL, may now be syn. of Zephyranthes; Crinum 4 spp. native and intro TX, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC; Galanthus 2 spp. intro WA, UT, NC, VA, MD, DE, PA, NJ, OH, NY, RI, MA; Hippeastrum 4 spp. intro FL, TX, AL, and HI; Hymenocallis 17 spp. native and intro. in TX, OK, MO, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, TN, KY, IL, and IN, there are at least 3 endemics; Leucojum 2 spp. intro in OR, CA, TX, LA, AR, MO, MS, AL, FL, SC, NC, TN, KY, IL, IN, OH, PA, VA, MD, DE, NY, CT, MA, and ME; Lycoris 2 spp. intro in IL, OH, LA, MS, AL, TN, FL, SC, and NC; Narcissus 11 spp. intro in most of the E USA, the Pacific states, TX, and UT; Pancratium 1 sp. intro to CA; Sternbergia 1 sp. intro to VA; Zephyranthes 12 spp. native (inc. 5 endemics) and introduced to AZ, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, and MD and introduced in HI.
Mexico AmaryllidaceaeGenera
Agapanthoideae in Mexico
Agapanthus1 sp. intro Nay E to Tam S to Chp, plus NL and Yuc.
Allioideae in Mexico
Allium 31 spp. native and introduced throughout Mexico; Ipheion 1 sp. introduced to Nay; Nothoscordum 2 spp. native to most of Mexico, except Yuc and QR; Tulbaghia 1 sp. is introduced to Chp, Cd Mex, Gto, Mch, and NL.
Amaryllidoideae in Mexico
Amaryllis 1 sp. intro to Chp, Gto, Ver, Yuc; Clivia 1 sp. intro to SW+C+SE Mexico; Crinum 6 spp. native to SW+SE Mexico and intro elsewhere; Hippeastrum 1-2 spp. intro to SW+SE+C Mexico; Hymenocallis 34 spp. native, inc. 30 endemics, native throughout all of Mexico; Ismene 1 sp. intro Chp, Tam;Narcissus 1 sp. intro to C Mexico; Scadoxus 1 sp. intro Gto, Oax, Ver; Urceolina 1 sp. intro Dgo S to Chp; Zephyranthes ~30 spp. native, inc. 6 endemic, widespread throughout all of Mexico.
Neotropical AmaryllidaceaeGenera
Allioideae in the Neotropics
Allium ~3 spp., including 1 native to Guatemala and Honduras and 1-2 spp. introduced to the Greater Antilles, Colombia, Ecuador, C Chile, and N Argentina; Atacamallium monospecific endemic to the Atacama Desert of N Chile; Gilliesia 13 spp. in C Chile and NW+S Argentina, most are endemic to Chile; Ipheion 3 spp. originally endemic to NE Argentina, Uruguay, and S Brazil; Latace 2 spp. narrow endemic genera of N+C Chile and NW Argentina; Leucocoryne 48 spp. narrow endemic genera of N+C Chile; Miersia 13 spp. neoendemic genera of Bolivia and Chile; Nothoscordium ~30 spp. native to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, and C+E Brazil and introduced to Jamaica; Schickendantziella is a monospecific endemic of Tucumán, Argentina + Bolivia; Trichlora 4 spp. narrow endemic genera of Peru; Tristagma 17 spp. native to in Peru, C+S Chile, and NW+S Argentina.
Amaryllidoideae in the Neotropics
Amaryllis 1 sp. intro Cuba, Hispaniola, and Juan Fernandez Island; Cearanthes monospecific endemic of NE Brazil; Chlidanthus 5 spp. endemic mostly to the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Clinanthus 24 spp. W SAM endemic genera, most endemic to Peru, also in Ecuador, Bolivia, N Chile, and NW Argentina; Crinum ~5 spp. native to Honduras, S to Peru, N+E Brazil, Paraguay, and Cuba and introduced to the Caribbean islands; Eremolirion is a monospecific endemic of N+C Chile (may be described as Paposoa); Eucrosia 6 spp. neoendemic genera of Ecuador and Peru; Eustephia 6 spp. neoendemic genera of Peru and Bolivia; Griffinia 23 spp. narrow endemic genera of E+C Brazil; Hieronymiella 11 spp. neoendemic genus native to Bolivia, Peru, and NW Argentina; Hippeastrum 116 spp. former neoendemic genera native to Costa Rica and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and N Argentina, introduced in the Antilles, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Belize; Hymenocallis ~34 spp. native to CAM (exc. El Salvador), the Caribbean and Antilles Islands, and tropical SAM S to Peru and Brazil; Ismene 11 spp. narrow neoendemic genus of Peru and Ecuador; Leptochiton 2 spp. neoendemic genus of Ecuador and Peru; Mathieua is a monospecific extinct species that was formerly endemic to Peru; Pamianthe 3 spp. neoendemic genus of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia; Paposoa is a monospecific endemic of N+C Chile; Paramongaia 5 spp. narrow endemic genus of Peru and Bolivia; Phaedranassa 11 spp. neoendemic genus of Costa Rica, Colombia, and Ecuador; Phycella 13 spp. narrow endemic genus of C+N Chile; Plagiolirion monospecific rare endemic of Colombia thought extinct until rediscovered in the Río Cauca Valley in 1989; Pyrolirion 8 spp. neoendemic genus of N Chile, Peru, and Bolivia; Rauhia 5 spp. narrow Peru endemic genus; Rhodolirium2 spp. SAM endemic genus native to C Chile and NW+S Argentina; Stenomesson 19 spp. W SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and N Chile; Traubia monospecific endemic of N+C Chile; Urceolina 29 spp. neoendemic genus of Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, N Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru; Worsleya monospecific endemic of E Brazil; Zephyranthes ~180 spp. native to CAM, the Antilles, and SAM S to Tierra del Fuego (exc. Guyana and French Guinea).
Patagonia AmaryllidaceaeGenera
Allioideae in Patagonia
Allium 1 sp. intro to S Argentina and Falkland Is.; Gilliesia 2-3 spp. in S Argentina, at least one in this region; Latace 1 sp. in Los Lagos, Chile; Leucocoryne 1 sp. in Bio Bio and Lagos, Chile; Nothoscordum 1-2 spp. native in the N Patagonia region in Bio Bio S to Los Lagos, Chile, and Rio Negro, Argentina; Tristagma 4 spp. native throughout the entire region from the N limit to the S end of Magallanes/Tierra del Fuego.
Amaryllidoideae in Patagonia
Rhodolirium 2 spp. Bio Bio to Araucania, Chile, and Rio Negro to Chubut, Argentina; Zephyranthes 1 sp. in Argentina in Neuquen and Rio Negro S to Chubut, also in S Chile.
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own personal observations throughout North America.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA (1993+). Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. (2009+). Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
POWO (2019+). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/
USDA, NRCS. 2020. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992+). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/
30 Apr, 2026
29 Apr, 2026
How to Identify the Arecaceae Palm Family
Washingtonia robusta Mexican Fan Palm showing cluster of leaves on the top of the truck, very characteristic of the Arecaceae family. Page Last Updated May 16, 2026.
Introduction to the Arecaceae Family
Welcome to the Arecaceae family, a curious monocot that often thinks it’s a tree! While it might grow as tall or even taller than some of our common tree species, it is more closely related to grass than it is to any tree we know. Still, the palm family is a fascinating group of plants that I enjoy studying.
We all love images of tropical and subtropical beaches filled with palm trees, but did you know that some palms even grow in warm-temperate areas of the southern United States? Also, while images of palm trees in places like Las Vegas are abundant in the media, did you know that most palms tolerate desert climates very poorly because they need either too much water, high humidity, or both? That is why you often see dead or dying palms, struggling to survive in desert climates. I currently live in an arid climate and see brown palms everywhere. I love palms, but here, I plant cacti, succulents, desert wildflowers, and desert shrubs. Why, because they are actually adapted to this climate, and I can keep them looking their best without draining my well!
Beginner’s Guide to the Palm (Arecaceae) Family
If you’re new to plant morphology, this guide is a perfect beginner’s description for learning to identify the Arecaceae or palm family, with no need to know any scientific jargon. Below this section is additional information on uses and morphology photos to help you identify the family, followed by pictures of individual species found in North America. But for researchers or those wanting to learn a more in-depth version, refer to the Scientific Botanical Descriptionbelow the images for highly detailed scientific descriptions and genus-level distribution data.
Leaves and Stemsof the Palm Family
The Arecaceae are mostly trees or shrubs, but they also include woody vines that climb using spines and hooks. And these trees are not “true trees” by the botanical definition because they cannot perform secondary growth (get wider trunks as they age), so when they have trunks, they tend to be long and skinny, topped with a cluster of leaves at the very top. Others are multi-stemmed from the ground, and still other shrub forms are trunkless.
The leaves are almost always compound, made of leaflets, often via shredding of the leaf as it emerges from its sheath. They are mostly either fan-shaped or feather-like with pairs of opposite leaflets.
Flowersof the Palm Family
The flowers are almost always unisexual (male or female, not both in the same flower), with male and female flowers on the same plant (monoecious) or on separate plants (dioecious). Individual flowers are small, usually having 6 white to greenish tepals, but they are usually arranged in sometimes enormous branched inflorescences that are enclosed in a leafy spathe at their base.
Reproductive Featuresof the Palm Family
The male parts (stamens) appear in 3s and may occasionally have essentially too many to count, usually appearing in 2 or 3 whorls. The ovary has 3(4-10) chambers with one ovule (immature seed) in each, and each chamber may have its own style, or there may be no styles.
Fruitsof the Palm Family
Arecaceae fruits are nearly always a berry or a drupe (think like a cherry with a central pit, though some palms are more fibrous than fleshy) or, rarely, a nut (coconut). Seeds are always oily.
Morphology of Arecaceae in North America
Some Species of Arecaceae Found in North America
Arecoideae Subfamily
Adonida merrillii—Christmas Palm
This feather palm is known for its bright red and green berry-like drupes, which give it the common name “Christmas Palm.” This former endemic of the Phillipines is often grown in North America and may be starting to naturalize. This one was in cultivation in Mexico.
Attalea cohune—Cohune Palm
This slow-growing, relatively cold-hardy palm has a single trunk with a top of loose, feather-like leaves. This species is endemic to southwestern Mexico, parts of Central America, and Colombia. This one was in cultivation in Mexico.
Coryphoideae Subfamily
Phoenix dactylifera—Date Palm
This is where most of our delicious dates come from, the date palm. It is also widely cultivated in palm-growing regions of North America. It is a feather palm up to 30 m tall that produces very sweet drupes (dates) in large, drooping inflorescences.
Sabal minor—Dwarf Palmetto
This wild palm is probably one of the most northern species, ranging from northern Mexico north into Oklahoma and east to North Carolina. It has fan-like costapalmate leaves and remains mostly trunkless its entire life but can get somewhat tree-like as it ages.
Washingtonia robusta—Mexican Fan Palm
One of the most commonly cultivated subtropical palms in the world, this palm is native to the Sonoran Desert along the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. It grows up to 25 m and has leaf stalks armed with sharp thorns and broad fan-shaped leaves. These ones were growing wild in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Uses of the Palm Family
The Arecaceae family has enormous economical importance for trade and local uses throughout the tropics, including coconut products (Cocos nucifera), palm oils (Elaeis guineensis), betel nut palm (Areca catechu), peach palm (Bactris gasipaes), palm dates, ivory nuts, carnauba wax, house-building materials, rattan cane, raffia, hats and mats, etc. Many are also used ornamentally around the world, including Dypsis lutescens, Howea forsteriana, Phoenix species, Sabal species, Washingtonia robusta, Roystonea regia, and more.
Record-Setting Arecaceae
There are some remarkable palms, including Ceroxylon quindiuense from Colombia, which is the tallest monocot in the world at 60 m tall. Lodoicea maldivica has the largest seeds of any plant, 40–50 cm in diameter and weighing 15–30 kg each. Raffia palms (Raphia spp.) have the largest leaves of any plant up to 25 m long and 3 m wide. The Corypha species has the largest inflorescence of any plant, up to 7.5 m tall, and contains millions of small flowers. Calamus stems (woody vine palms) can reach 200 m in length.
Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of Arecaceae
Palms are considered keystone resources in tropical and subtropical ecosystems, where they provide important structure, food, and shelter in rainforests. They also offer habitat and nesting sites for countless birds, reptiles, and invertebrates and host numerous epiphytic plants as well. They are a critical food source for fruit-eating animals, providing a consistent source of food.
Taxonomy of Arecaceae
There are 2,457 species in 188 genera in the Arecaceae family of the Arecales order of the Commelinid clade of monocots. Additionally, there are 5 subfamilies in the family, as follows:
Arecoideae Subfamily
The Arecoideae are the largest subfamily, with about 1,390 species in 107 genera and a pantropical distribution, but they are the most diverse in South America. They are a highly diverse group with a high degree of endemism, ranging from tiny forest floor palms to giant trees and climbers. But what they do have in common is reduplicately pinnate leaves (“feather palms”), highly differentiated primary inflorescence bracts, and floral triads made of clusters of three unisexual flowers: a central female flower and two male flowers (exc. Chamaedoreeae, which produces a unique floral cluster known as an acervulus).
The Calamoideae are easy to identify since they are woody vines that climb by ± recurved spines and produce fruits covered by reflexed scales. They are a pantropical subfamily of 655 species and 21 genera but are mostly found in the South Pacific islands.
The Ceroxyloideae are a diverse group of 45 species in 8 genera, mostly found in central and western South America, Florida, and the Antilles but also in Madagascar and NE Australia. They are often called wax palms because their trunks are often waxy and they typically have pinnate leaves and are more cold-tolerant and found at higher elevations than most palms.
The Coryphoideae are a group of fan palms with 448 species in 45 genera, best known for their palmate or costapalmate leaves, and include well-known members such as Phoenix, Washingtonia, and Sabal. They are mostly shrubs and trees with a pantropical to warm-temperate distribution and are represented in the Americas, both native and introduced.
The Nypoideae is a monospecific subfamily. The rhizomatous plant has dichotomously branched stems, racemose inflorescences, and fruits with longitudinal ridges protruding into the seed. It is the only palm adapted to the mangrove biome, and it is found in the South Pacific Islands.
Genera of the Nypoideae
Nypa (1).
Key Differences From Similar Families
The Arecaceae is a unique family of monocot trees and shrubs that easily distinguishes it from other families.
However, Cyclanthaceae is a family of palm-like monocot shrubs that can be confused at times. Still, they are relatively straightforward to distinguish with a closer look. For instance, while some Cyclanthaceae are climbers with palm-like leaves, they climb using roots rather than the recurved spines used in the palm family, while others are more shrub-like and do not develop palm-like leaves. The Cyclanthaceae also have distinctive spicate inflorescences with alternating male and female flowers unique to the family, and when present, their perianth parts are in sets of 4, unlike those of palms, which primarily have 3-merous flowers.
Scientific Botanical Description of the Arecaceae Family
Habit & Leaf Form of the Arecaceae Family
The Arecaceae family is a group of arborescent, pachycaul trees, shrubs, and woody vines that may be trunk-forming, trunkless, or prostrate. They are green and photosynthesizing; mesophytic (mostly) or xerophytic; and self-supporting (usually) or climbing via spines and hooks. They are not true trees, as secondary growth via vascular cambium is impossible, which explains the nearly constant diameter of the stem, though some have anomalous secondary growth.
Leaves are often spirally arranged at the top of an unbranched stem (monopodial) and may be solitary or clustered. They can range from small to exceptionally large, and they have alternate spiral or distichous arrangements. The leaves are leathery, petiolate, epulvinate, and sheathing, with tubular sheaths that have joined margins but often split at maturity. Leaves are almost always compound or falsely bifoliolate, pinnate, palmate, or rarely bipinnate. Leaves become compound through ontogenetically predetermined splitting of the leaves as they emerge. The lamina has no cross-venules. Leaves are often ligulate in palmate and costapalmate forms but otherwise are eligulate. Vernation is conduplicate. Stomata are mostly tetracytic.
Flowers of the Arecaceae Family
The family is almost entirely dioecious and monoecious, or sometimes polygamomonoecious, and rarely hermaphroditic. Flora nectaries may be present from the gynoecium, septal nectaries, or via the stamen bases, and pollination is often entomophilous, but anemophilous pollination is also seen.
Flowers are in complex, usually axillary panicles, sometimes terminal. Inflorescences are usually spatheate and may become woody when mature. Individual flowers are small, +/- regular, 3-merous, usually cyclic, or sometimes partially acyclic. Rarely is the perianth acyclic or the androecium acyclic. A perigone tube may be present.
The perianth has a distinct calyx and corolla of tepals; sometimes they are vestigial or rarely absent. There are usually 6 tepals, but there may be 4–9 (rarely when spiral), free or joined, 2-whorled (usually 3+3, sometimes 2+2), or rarely 1; sepaloid, petaloid, or both; usually different in the 2 whorls; and usually white or cream but may be greenish.
Androecium of the Arecaceae Family
The androecium is made of 3, 6, 9, or 10–900 stamens and may include staminodes. They are isomerous, usually diplostemonous, or may be triplostemonous to polystemonous with the perianth. Androecial members are either free from the perianth or adnate to it, and free from one another or coherent (adelphous), with the filaments often united into a tube or cup. They are 2 or 3 whorled (or acyclic). The anthers dehisce via longitudinal slits and are latrorse and tetrasporangiate.
Gynoecium of the Arecaceae Family
The gynoecium consists of a synovarious to synstylovarious, rarely apocarpous, ovary that is 3 (4–10) carpelled or, when syncarpous, 1 (rarely by abortion as in Cocos) or 3 (4–10) celled. It may be non-stylate or stylate. Styles 1 or 3 (4–10); free to fully joined, with dry-type papillate stigmas. There is 1 ovule per locule with subapical or basal (or lateral) placentation; non-arillate; orthotropous, anatropous, campylotropous, or hemianatropous; bitegmic; and crassinucellate.
Fruit of the Arecaceae Family
Arecaceae fruits are nearly always an indehiscent berry or a drupe (sometimes with a fibrous mesocarp), occasionally an aggregate, or rarely a nut (Cocos nucifera). When apocarpous (rarely), it is drupaceous and indehiscent. Fruits are 1-seeded with endospermic seeds that are usually oily, usually contain no starch, and may or may not be ruminate.
Global Distribution of Arecaceae
The Arecaceae family is a widespread pantropical and tropical family, mostly restricted to the tropics and subtropics, although it can be found in the warm temperate regions of North America.
In the American continents, the family is found from the southern USA through Mexico, Central America, and South America. It is not found in Canada or the Patagonian region of southern South America.
Distribution of Arecaceae in the Americas
Canadian ArecaceaeGenera
Absent.
USA ArecaceaeGenera
Arecoideae in the USA
Butia 1 sp. intro to FL, SC, and NC; Chamaedorea 1 sp. intro to FL and HI; Cocos 1 sp. intro to FL, GA, SC, NC, and HI; Dypsis 1 sp. intro to FL; Elaeis 1 sp. intro to FL; Ptychosperma 2 spp. introduced in FL; Roystonea 1 sp. native to FL.
Ceroxyloideae in the USA
Pseudophoenix 1 sp. native to FL.
Coryphoideae in the USA
Acoelorraphe 1 sp. native to FL; Caryota 2 spp. introduced to FL; Coccothrinax 1 sp. native to FL; Leucothrinax monospecific native to FL (Keys); Livistona 2 spp. introduced to FL and HI; Phoenix 3 spp. introduced to CA, AZ, FL, and HI; Pritchardia 27 spp. native to HI, mostly endemic to HI; Rhapidophyllum monospecific native to MS, AL, GA, SC, and FL; Sabal 5-6 spp. native to TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC, and NC, including 1-2 endemics; Serenoa monospecific endemic to the SE USA along the S Atlantic and Gulf Coastal plains and sand hills in TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, and FL; Thrinax 1 sp. native to FL; Washingtonia 2 spp. are native and introduced in CA, NV, AZ, and FL.
Mexico ArecaceaeGenera
Arecoideae in Mexico
Aconidia 1 sp. intro Sin and NL S to Chp, SE to QR and Yuc; Acrocomia 1 sp. native to Nay and SLP S to Chp, also Yuc; Archontophoenix 2 spp. intro to Ags, Cam, Chp, Col, Gto, NL, QR, Sin, and Yuc; Astrocaryum 1 sp. native to Chp, Oax, QR, Ver; Attalea 4 spp. native from Nay S to Chp and SE to QR and Yuc; Bactris 4 spp. native to Cam, Chp, Oax, Tab, Tam, Ver; Calyptrogyne 1 sp. native to Chp, Tab, Ver; Chamaedorea 28 spp. native, inc. 8 endemics Sin, Son, and Tam, and widespread SLP S to Chp and SE to QR and Yuc; Cocos monospecific widely introduced and cultivated in most of Mexico except BC, Chi, Coa, Dgo, Mex, and NL; Desmoncus 1 sp. native to Oax, Ver; Dypsis 1 sp. intro to Chi, Coa, Nay, and Ver S to Chp and SE to Yuc and QR; Elaeis 1 sp. intro to Chp, Ver, and Tab; Gaussia 2 spp. native to Chp, Oax, QR, and Ver; Geonoma 3 spp. native to Chp and Ver; Manicaria 1 sp. native in QR; Reinhardtia 3 spp. native to Chp, Oax, and Ver; Roystonea 2 spp native W Son and SLP S to Oax and Chp, SE to QR and Yuc; Syagrus 1 sp. intro Dgo, NL S to Oax, plus QR, Yuc; Synechanthus 1 sp. native to S Mexico.
Ceroxyloideae in Mexico
Pseudophoenix 1 sp. native to QR and Yuc.
Coryphoideae in Mexico
Acoelorraphe monospecific native to SE Mexico plus Ags, Jal; Bismarckia 1 sp. intro to Chp, Nay, Sin, QR, and Yuc; Brahea 11 spp. inc. 8 endemic throughout Mexico; Caryota 1 sp. intro Nay to SLP and S to Chp, SE to E QR; Coccothrinax 7 spp. native to BC, BCS, QR, Son, and Yuc, including 1 endemic to QR and Yuc; Copernicia 1 sp. intro to Sin; Cryosophila 2 spp. with 1 endemic to Sin, S to Chp, and SE to QR; Licuala 1 sp. intro to Gro, Jal, and Nay; Phoenix 3 spp. intro to NW Mexico; Rhapis 1 sp. intro to Mor; Sabal 10 spp., inc. 4 endemics, are native to most of Mexico except BC, BCS, Chi, and Coa; Thrinax 1 sp. native from Nay E to SLP and all S, but mostly QR and Yuc; Trachycarpus 1 sp. intro to Chp, Jal, QR, and Sin; Washingtonia 2 spp., inc. 1 endemic to SW USA, BC, Son, and other intro in NE Mexico.
Neotropical ArecaceaeGenera
Arecoideae in the Neotropics
Acrocomia ~ 9 spp. native to CAM, the Caribbean, and SAM, S to Argentina; Aiphanes 26 spp. endemic to CAM, SAM, and the Caribbean; Allagoptera 5 spp. endemic to SAM; Asterogyne 5 spp. native to CAM and N SAM, with 3 endemic to Venezuela; Astrocaryum ~ 40 spp. native to CAM, SAM, and Trinidad; Attalea ~67 spp. native to Mexico, the Caribbean, CAM, and tropical SAM; Bactris ~79 spp. native to Mexico, CAM, and tropical SAM; Barcella monotypic endemic to Amazonas and Roraima in NW Brazil; Butia ~ 25 spp. native to Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina; Calyptrogyne 18 spp. native to CAM and Colombia, including 11 endemic to Panama; Calyptronoma 3 spp. endemic genera of the Greater Antilles;Chamaedorea 100 spp. native to CAM, Colombia, N+C Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Cocos monospecific cultivated and introduced to El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Greater Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, and N Chile; Desmoncus 24 spp. native to CAM (exc. El Salvador) and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Trinidad-Tobago, and the Windward Islands; Dictyocaryum 3 spp. endemic genera of Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, N Brazil, Guyana, Ecuador, and Peru; Elaeis 1 sp. native to Honduras S to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, N Brazil, French Guiana, and Suriname and intro to El Salvador, Hispaniola, Trinidad-Tobago, and Windward Islands; Euterpe 8 spp. native to CAM (exc. El Salvador) and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, NE Argentina (exc. Uruguay); Gaussia 5 spp. native to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, S Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala; Geonoma 68 spp. native to CAM (exc. El Salvador), Haiti, Lesser Antilles, and tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and S Brazil; Hyospathe 4 spp. native from Costa Rica S to Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil; Iriartea monospecific native from Nicaragua S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N+C Brazil; Iriartella 2 spp. endemic to Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and W Brazil (Acre, Amazonas, Roraima, and Pará); Jubaea monospecific endemic to C Chile; Leopoldinia 2 spp. endemic to Colombia, Venezuela, and NW Brazil; Lytocaryum 4 spp. endemic to Brazil; Manicaria 2 spp. native to CAM (exc. El Salvador), Trinidad-Tobago, and tropical SAM S to Peru and N Brazil; Neonicholsonia monospecific endemic to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama; Oenocarpus 10 spp. native from Costa Rica S to Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and Trinidad-Tobago; Parajubaea 3 spp. endemic to the N Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; Pholidostachys 7 spp. native to NW Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Prestoea 10 spp. native to Nicaragua, S to Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil, exc. French Guiana and Suriname, also in the Greater Antilles; Reinhardtia 6 spp. native from S Mexico to the N tip of Colombia, with 1 endemic to the SW Dominican Republic;Roystonea 10 spp. native to Caribbean Islands, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Venezuela, and introduced to El Salvador, Panama, and Guyana; Syagrus 54 former SAM endemics native to tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and NE Argentina; Socratea 5 spp. neoendemic genus of Nicaragua, S to Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil; Synechanthus 2 spp. native to CAM (exc. El Salvador), Colombia, and Ecuador; Welfia 2 spp. native to Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Wendlandiella monospecific endemic to Peru, Bolivia, and Acre, Brazil; Wettinia 22 spp. native to Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NW Brazil, primarily at higher altitudes up to 2200m.
Calamoideae in the Neotropics
Calamus 1 sp. intro to Trinidad-Tobago; Lepidocaryum monospecific endemic to N SAM in Colombia, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela, and N Brazil; Mauritia 2 spp. endemic to tropical SAM, S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, also in Trinidad-Tobago; Mauritiella 4 spp. native to tropical SAM, S to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, exc. French Guiana; Raphia 1 sp. native to Nicaragua S to Colombia, and N Brazil, and intro to Trinidad-Tobago.
Ceroxyloideae in the Neotropics
Ammandra monotypic endemic of Colombia and Ecuador, where it is endangered; Aphandra monotypic endemic of the Amazon rainforests of Ecuador, Brazil, and Peru; Ceroxylon 12 spp. endemic to the Andes in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia in montane habitats up to over 3000m; Juania monospecific endemic of Juan Fernández Islands;Phytelephas 6 spp. native to S Panama and along Andes to Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, NW Brazil, and Peru; Pseudophoenix 4 spp. of Hispaniola (3 endemics), the Greater Antilles, Windward Islands, Bahamas, and Belize.
Coryphoideae in the Neotropics
Acoelorraphe monotypic endemic genus native to CAM, the Caribbean, Colombia, and the Bahamas; Brahea 3 spp. native to Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua; Chelyocarpus 4 NW SAM endemics of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N Brazil; Coccothrinax 52 spp. native throughout the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Colombia, Belize, and Venezuela, most spp. are endemic to Cuba; Colpothrinax 3 spp. endemic to Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico Southwest, Nicaragua, and Panamá; Copernicia 28 spp. native to Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba (22 endemics), Dominican Republic, Haiti, Paraguay, Venezuela, and NE Argentina and introduced into the Netherlands Antilles and Trinidad-Tobago; Cryosophila 9 spp. native to CAM (exc. El Salvador) and N. Colombia and intro to Trinidad-Tobago; Hemithrinax 3 spp. endemic to E Cuba; Itaya monospecific endemic to Brazil, Colombia, and Peru; Leucothrinax monospecific endemic to the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, Leeward Is., Puerto Rico, Turks-Caicos Is., and the Florida Keys; Phoenix 1 sp. intro to Bolivia, El Salvador, and parts of the Caribbean; Sabal ~10 spp. native throughout SAM, the Caribbean Islands, Colombia, and Venezuela;Schippia monospecific endemic to Belize and Guatemala; Thrinax 3 spp. endemic to the N Caribbean and most of Greater Antilles, Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua and intro to El Salvador and Trinidad-Tobago; Trithrinax 4 spp. SAM endemics of N Argentina, Bolivia, C+S Brazil, and Uruguay; Washingtonia 1 sp. intro to Bolivia and El Salvador; Zombia monospecific endemic of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles.
Nypoideae in the Neotropics
Nypa monospecific introduced to Guyana, Panamá, and Trinidad-Tobago.
Patagonia ArecaceaeGenera
Absent
Additional Information and References
Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
Baker, W. J., Norup, M. V., Clarkson, J. J., Couvreur, T. L., Dowe, J. L., Lewis, C. E., Pintaud, J. C., Savolainen, V., Wilmot, T., & Chase, M. W. (2011). Phylogenetic relationships among arecoid palms (Arecaceae: Arecoideae). Annals of botany, 108(8), 1417–1432. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcr020.
Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
FNA (1993+). Flora of North America. https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page. Accessed 2022-current.
Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B., & Baracat, A. eds. (2009+). Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
Palmweb – Palms of the World Online. https://palmweb.org/– This site is considered the global authority on palms, with most other authoritative sites referring to it.
POWO (2019+). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/
USDA, NRCS. 2020. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed 2020-present.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992+). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.
You can cite this site as follows: Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/.
