Annual or perennial, herbs, woody undershrubs or occasionally shrubs. Leaves alternate, mostly variously dissected, rarely entire. Capitula homogamous or heterogamous, radiate, discoid or disciform. Involucre shape variable, broadly campanulate to narrowly urceolate, phyllaries 2-4(-7)-seriate, imbricate, with narrow to broad scarious hyaline or brown margins, rarely herbaceous or lacerate. Receptacle flat to convex or conical to subulate, glabrous or densely hirsute to soft hairy or paleate. Marginal florets (ray-florets) uniserite, rarely multiseriate, fertile or sterile, or sometimes neuter, tube sometimes dorsiventrally flattend, with or without ligules, limbs 2-3-dentate at apices, yellow, white, pink, purple or violaceous, rarely reddish. Disc-florets bisexual, rarely female to male-sterile or functionally female, or functionally male with reduced ovaries, tubular or filiform-tubulose, usually yellow, sometimes pink or purple, tube dilated upwards, or saccate, 4-5-dentate or toothed. Anthers basally ecaudate, sometimes caudate, terminal appendages triangular to linear-lanceolate or obtuse to rounded, sometimes with resin ducts in the appendages. Styles truncate, apically penicillate or marginally stigmatic. Cypselas homomorphic or occasionally heteromorphic, 2-10-costate or 1-3-winged, terete or dorsiventrally compressed, apically rounded when epappose, smooth, glabrous or sometimes covered with glands or sparsely to densely hirsute. Pappus absent or paleae-like, coronate or obliquely auriculate, rarely divided into numerous narrow persistent bristles or scales.