Lagasceinae Bentham & Hooker f.

Annuals, perennials, subshrubs, or shrubs, (2–)20–500 cm. Leaves usually mostly cauline, rarely mostly basal; mostly opposite (distal often alternate) or mostly alternate, rarely whorled; petiolate or sessile; blades (often 3- or 5-nerved) orbiculate or deltate to lanceolate or linear (and intermediate shapes), sometimes lobed, ultimate margins entire or toothed, faces usually hairy (often hispid to scabrellous), often gland-dotted. Heads usually radiate, sometimes discoid, borne singly or in corymbiform (paniculiform or racemiform) arrays (glomerules or second-order heads of 1–2-flowered heads in Lagascea). Calyculi 0. Involucres cylindric to hemispheric or rotate. Phyllaries persistent, 4–45(–100+) in 1–6+ series (usually distinct, ± connate in Lagascea, broadly ovate to linear, subequal or unequal). Receptacles usually flat or convex, sometimes hemispheric or conic, usually paleate (epaleate in Lagascea; paleae usually falling, sometimes persistent, mostly oblong to linear, often conduplicate, herbaceous to scarious, apices sometimes ± 3-lobed or -toothed; becoming hardened perigynia completely investing cypselae in Sclerocarpus). Ray florets 0 or 5–30(–100+), neuter, or styliferous and sterile; corollas usually yellow to orange, sometimes partly or wholly brown to purple or red-brown to reddish. Disc florets 1 (Lagascea) or 10–200(–1000+), bisexual, fertile; corollas usually yellow to orange, sometimes brown to purple or reddish to red-brown, tubes shorter than or about equaling cylindric or funnelform throats, lobes 5, ± deltate (equal); anther thecae dark or pale; stigmatic papillae usually continuous. Cypselae often ± compressed, flattened, biconvex, clavate, columnar, obovoid, obpyramidal, or prismatic (lengths usually 1–2 times diams.), glabrous or hairy (faces and/or angles); pappi 0, or (often readily falling or fragile, sometimes persistent) usually of (1–)2(–8+) (sometimes aristate) scales and/or awns, sometimes coroniform.

Genera 17, species 363 (8 genera, 69 species, including 1 hybrid, in the flora): mostly subtropical, tropical, and warm-temperate New World.

Circumscription of Helianthinae adopted here (i.e., that of H. Robinson 1981) is narrower than traditional circumscriptions (e.g., T. F. Stuessy 1977[1978]), which included genera here treated in Ecliptinae, Galinsoginae, and Rudbeckiinae.

Lower Taxa

• Bahiopsis Kellogg
• Helianthus Linnaeus
• Heliomeris Nuttall
• Lagascea Cavanilles
• Sclerocarpus Jacquin
• Simsia Persoon
• Tithonia Desfontaines ex Jussieu
• Viguiera Kunth