KEY TO TRIBES OF
WISCONSIN
ASTERACEAE
(R. R. Kowal, 2000 July 14‑31.
Sources: L. H. Shinners (May, 1941, unpublished) ,
Fernald, 1950; Johnson & Iltis, 1963, Gleason & Cronquist, 1991; Flora of North America Editorial Committee [FNA], 2006.)
Excluded tribes.
Tribe Mutisieae: Adenocaulon bicolor - trail plant. Reports from WI & MN unverified (FNA, 2006).
Tribe Calenduleae: Calendula officinalis - pot-marigold. Doubtfully naturalized; not noted for WI & MN in FNA (2006).
Flowers wind-pollinated, not showy; rays absent; florets and most heads unisexual; anthers not united; phyllaries typically connate, at least basally, where free (Iva), only 3‑5
......... Tribe 10a. HELIANTHEAE, subtribe AMBROSIINAE - ragweed subtribe.
Flowers insect-pollinated, usually showy; rays present or absent; heads and most florets bisexual; anthers united; phyllaries free - IF wind-pollinated, phyllaries free, scarious and more than 5 (Artemisia).
2. Heads ligulate (florets bisexual & with a 5‑toothed ligule); plants with milky sap
......... Tribe 2. CICHORIEAE (LACTUCEAE) - chicory (lettuce) tribe.
2. Heads radiate (with disk florets surrounded marginally by [pistillate or neuter] ray florets) OR disciform ("radiate" but with ray florets without rays) OR discoid (only disk florets); plants with watery sap.
3. Heads discoid and corolla lobes of the disk florets at least (and usually well over) 4 times as long as wide [in some Centaurea=s the marginal disk florets are enlarged, splayed outward, and neuter (heads Aradiant@)]; plants and/or heads usually prickly, if not, corollas not yellow; receptacle densely bristly (naked in the prickly Onopordum); leaves alternate; style with a ring of hairs (sometimes merely with a thickened ring) below the branches (which are often connate); anthers tailed at base
......... Tribe 1. CARDUEAE (CYNAREAE) - thistle tribe.
3. Heads various but corolla lobes of the disk florets less than 4 times as long as wide; neither plants nor heads prickly; receptacle various, rarely bristly; leaves various; style otherwise; anthers (except in Gnaphalieae and Inuleae) not tailed.
4. Heads discoid and corollas never yellow; style-branches long and slender (thread-like) , conspicuously protruding from the corolla and often attractive; receptacle naked.
5. Style-branches hispidulous, acute or acuminate at tip; corollas purple; inflorescence corymbose; leaves alternate
......... Tribe 3. VERNONIEAE - ironweed tribe.
5. Style-branches merely papillate, blunt (to acutish) and sometimes thickened (clavate) towards the tip; corollas white, pink, rose or blue-violet; inflorescence various; leaves alternate, opposite or whorled
......... Tribe 10b. EUPATORIEAE - boneset tribe.
4. Heads various, but if discoid, corollas yellow (or at least creamy); style-branches much shorter (relative to their widths); receptacle various.
6. Pappus of hairs or bristles; leaves alternate (in some Senecioneae directly from a rhizome).
7. Phyllaries equal and in 1 row (sometimes with a few small bractlets below them); rays yellow or absent; style-branches mostly truncate, with a tuft of hairs at the end
......... Tribe 8. SENECIONEAE - groundsel tribe.
7. Phyllaries in 2‑5 rows, equal or unequal, IF (rarely) in 1 row, with conspicuous white, pink, purple, or blue rays.
8. Heads discoid or disciform; phyllaries scarious, either virtually entirely or at least at the tip for a third of their lengths [styles and anthers as in Inuleae]
......... Tribe 5. GNAPHALIEAE - pussy's-toes tribe.
8. Heads radiate (rays minute in Conyza); phyllaries not scarious or scarious only on the margins.
9. Giant perennial herb 1‑3 m tall, with basal leaves often 1 m long, disk of head more than 2 cm wide, and rays more than 4 cm long, which are yellow, numerous, and narrowly linear; style branch slightly clavate and glabrous; anthers tailed at base; infrequently adventive
......... Tribe 4. INULEAE - elecampane tribe.
9. Plant smaller in all parts; rays of various colors and shapes; style branch with a lanceolate or elongate-deltoid hairy appendage; anthers rounded at base
......... Tribe 6. ASTEREAE - aster tribe.
6. Pappus absent OR of awns, scales, or teeth; leaves alternate or opposite.
10. Phyllaries with scarious or hyaline margins; leaves alternate.
11. Leaves entire, not aromatic; receptacle naked; style branch with a lanceolate or elongate-deltoid hairy appendage
......... Tribe 6. ASTEREAE (Boltonia) - aster tribe.
11. Leaves toothed, lobed, or finely divided, often aromatic; receptacle chaffy or naked; style-branches mostly truncate, with a tuft of hairs at the end (like Senecioneae)
......... Tribe 7. ANTHEMIDEAE - camomile tribe.
10. Phyllaries not at all scarious or hyaline, OR IF SO, leaves opposite; leaves alternate or opposite.
12. Receptacle naked; rays present, widest at the prominently 3‑lobed apex; leaves alternate and lanceolate to narrowly elliptic
......... Tribe 9. HELENIEAE - sneezeweed tribe.
12. Receptacle chaffy (absent in Dyssodia, with unremarkable rays and opposite pinnatisect leaves); rays present or absent, but when present usually not as above, but BUT IF SO, then the leaves opposite and either lobed or pinnatifid
......... Tribe 10. HELIANTHEAE - sunflower tribe.