| perennials, usually with short
rootstocks or well developed caudex, this often woody or branching; NOT
[annual, biennial or short-lived perennial plants, without rootstocks or
well developed caudex] |
| plant without a taproot but with
fibrous roots from a well developed caudex; NOT [with a taproot as well
as a caudex and lacking fibrous roots] |
| stems often spreading or decumbent at
base; NOT erect |
| plants usually more than 20 cm high |
| stems mostly less than 35 cm high |
| internodes NOT very numerous |
| internodes NOT very short |
| cauline leaves much reduced in size and
number upwards; NOT little reduced in size and number upwards |
| leaves various, if linear, then the
basal ones obviously longer than the cauline; leaves NOT [linear or
narrowly oblong, essentially uniform from base to near top of plant, the
basal ones not markedly longer than the cauline] |
| leaves at middle of stem NOT longer
than those above and below |
| stem leaves usually 5-7; NOT numerous |
| leaves not lobed, mostly entire,
sometimes toothed at apex; NOT [leaves, or some of them, more or less
lobed, cleft, or coarsely toothed] |
| leaves NOT clasping, NOT auriculate |
| cauline leaves mostly linear,
lanceolate or oblanceolate; NOT [lanceolate or broader] |
| heads 2-many, or both; NOT solitary |
| involucre pubescent, but NOT
woolly-villose; NOT glandular |
| ligules usually conspicuous, well
developed |
| ligules often over 100 to a head |
| ligules filiform, 1 mm wide or less;
NOT over 1 mm wide |
| ligules over 4 mm long at maturity |
| ligules coloured; NOT white |
| ligules pink, purple, or blue; NOT
yellow |
| long pappus bristles present on all the
flowers of the head, including outer pistillate (usually ligulate)
flowers |
| pappus double |
| achenes usually 2-nerved; NOT 4-7
nerved |