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Botanical Classifications
Asteraceae L.
The family Asteraceae or, alternatively, family Compositae, known as the aster, daisy or sunflower family, is a taxon (group) of dicotyledonous (having 2 seed leaves) flowering plants. The family name is derived from the genus Aster and refers to the star-shaped flower head of its members, typified well by the daisy. The Asteraceae is the second largest family, with some 1,100 genera and over 20,000 recognized species. Only the orchid family (Orchidaceae) is larger, with about 25,000 described species.
The most common characteristic of all these plants is an inflorescence or flower head; a densely packed cluster of many small, individual flowers, usually called florets (meaning "small flowers").
Plants in the family Asteraceae typically have one or both of two kinds of florets. The outer perimeter of a flower head like that of a sunflower is composed of florets possessing a long strap-like petal, termed a ligule; these are the ray florets. The inner portion of the flower head (or disc) is composed of small flowers with tubular corollas; these are the disc florets. The composition of asteraceous inflorescences varies from all ray flowers (like dandelions, genus Taraxacum) to all disc flowers (like pineapple weeds).
The composite nature of the inflorescences of these plants led early taxonomists to call this family the Compositae. Although the rules governing naming conventions for plant families state that the name should come from the type genus, in this case Aster and thus Asteraceae. However, the long prevailing name Compositae is also authorized as an alternative family name
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Some common essential oils in the Asteraceae family. |
| Achillea millefolium |
Yarrow, Milfoil, common yarrow, nosebleed, thousand leaf. |
| Arnica montana |
Arnica, Arnica fulgens, Arnica sororia, leopard's bane, wolf's bane. |
| Artemisia absinthium |
Absinthe, absinthium, wormwood, green ginger, southernwood, old woman, armoise, |
| Artemesia dracunculus |
Tarragon, Estragon, little dragon, Russian tarragon |
| Artemisia vulgaris |
Armoise, Mugwort, wild wormwood, felon herb, St. John's plant, yomugi oil, artemisia vulgaris oil, artemisia vulgaris herb oil |
| Calendula officinalis |
Marigold, Calendula, marygold, marbud, gold-bloom, pot marigold, hollygold, common marigold, poet's marigold. |
| Carphephorus odoratissima |
Deertongue, Trilisa odoratissima, Liatris odoratissima, Frasera soecrosa hound's tongue, deer's tongue, carolina vanilla, vanilla leaf, wild vanilla, vanilla trilisa, whart's tongue, liatrix. |
| Chamaemelum mixtum |
Moroccan Chamomile, Ormensis mixta, Anthemis mixta, Ormensis multicaulis Wild Chamomile, Maroc chamomile. |
| Chamaemelum nobile |
Roman Chamomile, Anthemis nobilis, English Chamomile, garden chamomile, sweet chamomile, true chamomile |
| Helichrysum italicum |
Helichrysum italicum, Everlasting, immortelle, imortelle, St Johns herb. |
| Inula helenium |
Elecampane, Helenium grandiflorum, aster officinalis, aster helenium, scabwort, alant, horseheal, yellow starwort, elf dock, wild sunflower, velvet dock. |
| Matricaria recutica |
German Chamomile, Matricaria chamomilla, blue chamomile, camomile, Hungarian chamomile, sweet false chamomile, single chamomile, matricaris. |
| Psiadia altissima |
Arina, |
| Santolina chamaecyparissus |
Santolina, Lavandula taemina, Santolina incana, Cotton lavender. |
| Saussurea costus |
Costus, Saussurea lappa, Auklandia costus, Aplotaxis lappa, Aplotaxis auriculata. |
| Tagetes minuta |
Tagetes, Tagetes glandulifera, tagette, taget, marigold, Mexican marigold. |
| Tanacetum annuum |
Blue Tansy, True Moroccan Chamomile |
| Tanactum vulgare |
Tansy, Chrysanthemum vulgare, chyrsanthemum tanactum, buttons, bitter buttons, bachelor's buttons, scented fern, cheese |
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