Perennial, or rarely annual, herbs, rarely shrubs or small trees. Sap usually watery. Lvs usually alternate, rarely opposite or whorled. Capitula homogamous: all florets tubular (rarely sub-ligulate). Involucral bracts not spinous, not appendaged. Receptacle naked, pitted, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy. Anthers sagittate or auriculate at base; terminal appendages present; filaments ± medifixed. Style branches long, filiform. Achenes cylindric or turbinate, sometimes slightly flattened, not beaked, usually ribbed or angled, hairy. Pappus of (1)-2 rows of hairs, the outer row much < the inner or 0; hairs free, sometimes flattened at base.