Sphaeranthus L.

Annual or perennial herbs, usually in moist sites; stems and branches usually with narrow wings. Leaves usually glandular and aromatic, alternate (opposite in S. oppositifolius), usually with decurrent bases. Capitula congested in dense (sub)globose or ellipsoid secondary heads (the glomerule), disciform, usually few-flowered; receptacle of the glomerule convex; glomerules mauve or purple, solitary and terminal but often overtopped by lateral branches, subtended by sub-glabrous bracts which are visible or hidden by the capitula; individual capitula usually sessile, subtended by 2–10 (rarely more) usually scarious bracts. Outer florets female,filiform, becoming corky basally when achene matures, minutely 3-lobed; central florets hermaphrodite, tube cylindric, lobes 5; anthers sagittate with very short tails and a small ovate distal appendage; style undivided or minutely bifid. Achenes small, fertile in outer florets, often vestigial or sterile in the inner florets, often hairy with bifid hairs; pappus absent.