Annual or perennial herbs (often with annual stems from woody rootstocks), small to large shrubs, woody scramblers or small trees. Leaves alternate, simple. Capitula homogamous, discoid; florets normally bisexual and fertile. Phyllaries free in 2-many series, imbricate. Corolla various shades of purple, blue, or creamy-white, regularly 5-lobed. Pappus 2-seriate with an outer short whorl of scales or setae and an inner whorl of longer setae.