Asterales
- Related Topics:
- Asteraceae
- Campanulaceae
- Menyanthaceae
- Calyceraceae
- Goodeniaceae
Asterales, daisy order of flowering plants, containing 11 families and some 26,870 species. Asterales is part of the core asterid clade (organisms with a single common ancestor) in the euasterid II group of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group III (APG III) botanical classification system. The major families are Asteraceae and Campanulaceae (including Lobeliaceae), with far fewer species in the remaining families of Goodeniaceae, Stylidiaceae, Menyanthaceae, Calyceraceae, Rousseaceae (including Carpodetaceae), Pentaphragmataceae, Alseuosmiaceae, Phellinaceae, and Argophyllaceae. These families have been genetically linked to one another by their common chemical characteristics, such the presence of ellagic acid and inulin, and by their morphological similarities, including a specialized mechanism known as plunger pollination.
Asteraceae
Asteraceae is a large family of flowering plants, with more than 1,620 genera and 23,600 species. The only other plant family with a comparable number of species is Orchidaceae, the orchid family, in the order Asparagales. Members of Asteraceae occur in nearly every terrestrial habitat, though most are herbs in temperate and subtropical regions. Several species are adapted to harsh locations, such as sand dunes; cliff crevices; talus slopes; seleniferous, gypsiferous, or alkaline soils; and fields or disturbed sites around human habitations. A few species are aquatic. In most temperate regions, more than 10 percent of the species of flowering plants belong to Asteraceae.
The most obvious and outstanding general feature of Asteraceae is that the flowers are grouped characteristically into compact inflorescences (heads) that superficially resemble individual flowers. Each such head is ordinarily subtended by an involucre of small modified leaves (bracts). Furthermore, in more than half the members of the family, the flowers in the outermost row or rows of the head have a modified, mainly flat and elongate corolla that resembles an individual petal of most other flowers. Thus, the “petals” of a daisy or sunflower are actually the outermost flowers of the head. An inflorescence of this family can have more than 1,000 individual flowers (called florets), and the heads can be grouped into more complex, secondary arrangements called capitulescences.
The leaves of Asteraceae are simple or occasionally compound, and their arrangement along the stem may be opposite, alternate, or whorled. The one-seeded fruit (an achene) has a hard outer covering and is often accompanied by sepals that have been reduced to a ring of hairs, scales, or bristles, known as the pappus. The parachute-like pappi of Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) exploit wind currents to facilitate seed distribution, whereas other genera, such as Bidens (beggar-tick), employ barbed pappus awns to utilize the movement of animals in seed transportation.
The evolutionary success of Asteraceae may be attributable to its arsenal of defensive secondary metabolites. While it lacks the iridoid compounds found in other orders of the core asterid lineage of flowering plants, Asteraceae heavily exploits polyacetylenes, bitter sesquiterpenes (especially sesquiterpene lactones), terpenoid volatile oils, latex, several kinds of alkaloids (notably pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the tribe Senecioneae), and various other compounds. Members of the genus Tagetes (marigolds) kill plant-parasitic nematodes in the soil by releasing terpenoid compounds from their roots. The polyacetylenes found in Asteraceae generally have cyclic, aromatic, or heterocyclic end groups, in contrast to the mainly aliphatic polyacetylenes of Campanulaceae.
Much of the economic importance of Asteraceae lies in the use of many of its members as garden ornamentals. Species and garden hybrids of Aster (Michaelmas daisy), Bellis (English daisy), Callistephus (China aster), Chrysanthemum (chrysanthemum, daisy), Cosmos (cosmos), Dahlia (dahlia), Echinacea (coneflower), Helianthus (sunflower), Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan), Tagetes (marigold), and Zinnia (zinnia) are well-known garden favourites. Also familiar in gardens are Achillea (yarrow), Ageratum (ageratum), Anaphalis (pearly everlasting), Anthemis (golden marguerite), Artemisia (wormwood), Calendula (pot marigold), Centaurea (bachelor’s button, or cornflower), Echinops (globe thistle), Erigeron (fleabane), Eupatorium (joe-pye weed, boneset, white snakeroot), Gaillardia (blanketflower), Helichrysum (strawflower, everlasting), Liatris (blazing star, button snakeroot), Ratibida (coneflower), Santolina (lavender cotton), and Stokesia (Stokes’ aster). Cineraria, a popular wintertime potted flower, is Senecio cruentus, originally from the Canary Islands.
The ragweeds (Ambrosia), dandelions (Taraxacum), and thistles (Carduus, Cirsium, and Onopordum) are the most troublesome weeds in Asteraceae. Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed) and Ambrosia trifida (giant ragweed) are two of the most significant plant species causing the allergic reaction known as hay fever.
The family also has several food plants that are economically significant. The most important of these is Lactuca sativa (lettuce), a European cultigen. Second in importance is Helianthus annuus (sunflower), a native of North America. Sunflower seeds are excellent poultry feed and produce an oil commonly used as a salad or cooking oil, as well as in the manufacture of margarine, soap, paint, and varnish. Oil cake is fed to livestock, and the whole plant is used as silage. Flowers of Carthamus tinctorius (safflower) are the source of red and yellow dyes, and the seeds produce an oil used in cooking and in the production of soap, paint, and varnish. Several other members of the order, including Cynara scolymus (artichoke) and Helianthus tuberosus (Jerusalem artichoke), are of lesser importance as food plants.
Asteraceae also features several species from which a variety of important chemical substances are derived. Pyrethrum, an insecticide that does not produce the environmental problems associated with many synthetic products, is obtained from the flowers of several species, particularly Tanacetum cinerariifolium. Extracts from several species of wormwood, notably Artemisia cina from the Middle East, are used to expel intestinal worms (e.g., pinworms). A. absinthium is the source of a poisonous oil used to give the liqueur absinthe its distinctive character. A sesquiterpene extracted from A. annua (a Eurasian weed) is increasingly used in the treatment of quinine-resistant malaria.