牛眼菊属 niu yan ju shu

Herbs, perennial. Stem not winged, with resin canals. Leaves alternate, sessile or petiolate, lanceolate to rhombic, entire or dentate, glabrescent or hairy. Capitula heterogamous, radiate, solitary, terminal. Receptacle paleate, paleae folded, subtending florets. Involucre hemispheric; phyllaries in 2 or 3 rows, narrowly linear, herbaceous, not subtended by leaves. Marginal florets female, in 1 row; corolla yellow, radiate. Achenes triquetrous to flattened. Pappus missing or a rim of scales. Disk florets bisexual; corolla yellow; epidermis with straight cell walls, without needlelike crystals; corolla lobes short, smooth. Anthers calcarate with very short tails; endothecial tissue polarized. Cells of antheropodium wider than long. Pollen spines with a cavity. Style branches with acute sweeping hairs not reaching furcation. Achenes flattened or somewhat triquetrous, shorter than corolla; epidermis with elongated crystals. Pappus of a rim of irregularly incised scales. x = 10.

Three species: Europe; one species (introduced) in China.

Lower Taxon

• Buphthalmum salicifolium Linnaeus