Stereosanthus Franchet; Vierhapperia Handel-Mazzetti.

Herbs, perennial, rarely subshrubs; rhizome woody; herbage sometimes or partly long white lanate or cottony, stipitate glandular. Leaves alternate, basal and lower cauline long or shortly petiolate, blade lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, oblong, orbicular, or cordate, margin coarsely serrate, mid and upper cauline sessile, often decurrent. Capitula ± large, few to numerous in corymbiform synflorescences, rarely solitary, radiate. Involucre hemispheric or cup-shaped; phyllaries 2-4-seriate, unequal to equal, herbaceous, rarely papery, multiveined, margins of inner narrowly scarious, outer glandular or long hairy. Receptacles flat or slightly convex, ± alveolate, naked. Ray florets outer with lamina yellow, reddish, or brownish, surpassing or ± equaling phyllaries, inner 2- or 3-seriate, rarely few or absent, tubular, elaminate, shorter than styles; disk functionally male, yellow, narrowly funnelform, 5-lobed, lobes lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, often glandular; anther bases obtuse or acute; style branches of ray florets linear-lanceolate, long, of disk ± appressed together, lanceolate, ± short, densely hairy (outer), without receptive papillae. Achenes brown, oblong, sparsely strigose, pale 8-10-veined. Pappus of few short, thin bristles (sometimes absent), and many long, coarse or thin, long-barbellate bristles, those of disk sometimes few, short, thin.

J. Q. Liu et al. (Molec. Phylogen. Evol. 23: 307-325. 2002) produced a molecular phylogeny of Nannoglottis, showing it is one of the earliest diverging lineages of Astereae. Nannoglottis ravida is the earliest diverging member of the genus and has been segregated under N. sect. Monocephala T. G. Gao & Y. L. Chen from all other species of the genus.

Nine species: Bhutan, China, India, Nepal; nine species (six endemic) in China.

(Authors: Chen Yilin (陈艺林 Chen Yi-ling); Luc Brouillet)