Tithonia Desf. ex Juss.

Erect annual or perennial herbs, sometimes shrubs. Leaves alternate, sessile or petiolate, entire to palmately or pinnately lobed, with 3 main veins. Capitula large, radiate, solitary; hemispherical or broadly campanulate; peduncles long, swollen and hollow below involucre (fistulose); involucral bracts 2–5-seriate, graduated or subequal, longitudinally ribbed; outer bracts leathery; inner bracts herbaceous or papery; receptacle convex; paleae concave or conduplicate, rigid, with acuminate awn, persistent, enfolding achenes. Ray florets sterile, in 1 row; ligules bright yellow or orange. Disc florets bisexual, fertile, 5-lobed, yellow to orange. Achenes oblong, ± compressed, bluntly 4-angled. Pappus usually of 2 awns and/or scales.