Botanical name
Asteraceae, also known as the composite-, aster-, sunflower- or daisy family
Features of the plants in the sunflower family
The sunflower family is one of the largest families of flowering plants. Most of the plants in this family are herbaceous but there are also shrubs, vines and trees, they can be found in all climate zones, except the Arctics.
The plant family is defined by it’s flowers that are actually a bundle of plenty of tiny flowers all packed together (hence composite) and often embellished by some surrounding leaves that resemble a star (hence aster, from Latin aster: star).
Most of the plants in this family grow taproots and plenty of them produce a milky sap, when the stem is broken.
The sunflower family offers several commercially important food, herb and drug plants.
Species we grow
Lettuce, endive, French marigold, Mexican tarragon
Other common plants in this family
Witloof, artichokes, sunflower, safflower, Jerusalem artichokes, chamomile, chrysanthemum, dahlia, tarragon, wormwood. dandelion