composite family

American  

noun

1. the large and varied plant family Compositae (or Asteraceae), typified by herbaceous plants having alternate, opposite, or whorled leaves and a whorl of bracts surrounding the flower heads, which are usually composed of a disk containing tiny petalless flowers and a ray of petals extending from the flowers at the rim of the disk, some flower heads being composed only of a disk or a ray and some plants having clusters of flower heads, and including the aster, daisy, dandelion, goldenrod, marigold, ragweed, sunflower, thistle, and zinnia.

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composite family Scientific  

1. A very large family of flowering plants, Compositae (or Asteraceae), comprising about 1,100 genera and more than 20,000 species, including the daisy, lettuce, and marigold. The composite plants are eudicots and are considered to be the most highly evolved plants. Their inflorescences are characterized by many small flowers arranged in a head that resembles a single flower and arises from an involucre of bracts. A head may consist of both ray flowers and disk flowers, as in the sunflower, of disk flowers only, as in the burdock, or of ray flowers only, as in the dandelion.

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Example Sentences

Given its size, Harris writes, the composite family provides relatively little by way of economically important plants.

From Washington Post

Botanists call the composite family Asteraceae.

From Washington Post

If you want a sense of just how rich the composite family is, and how much it has shaped cultures across the globe, pick up a copy of Stephen A. Harris’s new book, “Sunflowers.”

From Washington Post

Composite: Family photos Rankin’s use of a pseudonym online was understandable.

From The Guardian

You've spoken about how you've created a new sort of "composite" family, and how it's a bit like being Christopher Columbus discovering the wilder shores of love – but that sometimes it would have been nice to get there when the luxury hotels had already been built.

From The Guardian