Herbs, annual or perennial. Stems not winged, without resin canals. Leaves simple, entire to dentate or pinnatifid or deeply lobed, hairy. Capitula large or small, solitary or clustered, heterogamous, radiate. Receptacle paleate; paleae folded. Marginal florets female, in ca. 1 row; corolla yellow, radiate; epidermis not crested. Disk florets bisexual; corolla yellow with straight epidermis cell walls, without needle-shaped crystals; corolla lobes short, smooth, without spiny hairs apically. Anthers minutely calcarate, with long or very short tails; endothecial tissue polarized; cells of antheropodium wider than long. Pollen spines with a cavity. Style with obtuse, rarely acute, sweeping hairs not reaching furcation, without star-shaped crystals. Achenes ellipsoid or with obtuse indistinct edges, without crystals in epidermis. Pappus of short acute or obtuse scales, or sometimes missing. x = 7.

That Anisopappus is a member of the Athroismeae, the closest relatives of the Heliantheae s.l., has received robust support from DNA analyses (Eldenäs et al., Pl. Syst. Evol. 210: 159-170. 2005).

About 40 species: mostly in S and tropical Africa, Madagascar; one species in China.