Phoebanthus

False sunflower
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Heliantheae
Genus: Phoebanthus
S.F.Blake
Type species
Phoebanthus grandiflorus
(Torr. & A.Gray) S.F.Blake

Phoebanthus, called the False sunflower, is a genus of North American plants in the sunflower tribe within the daisy family.[1][2]

Phoebanthus includes two species of herbaceous perennials that are both native to the southeastern United States The genus is a close relative of Helianthus, the genus of the common sunflower, and the plants have the general appearance of a sunflower.

Taxonomy

Phoebanthus is characterized by having a pappus of short scales that are usually persistent (don't fall off) compared to the pappus of two deciduous awns (and sometimes a few scales) in Helianthus, and Phoebanthus is also characterized by a distinctive type of slender, horizontal tuber that forms the perennating organ.

Species[3][4][5]

The relationship between the two species has never been closely analyzed, but it does not appear that P. grandiflorus is simply an autotetraploid of P. tenuifolius.[7]


References

External links