Family astroves (composite): characteristics, photos and representatives

It will be about one of the most numerous families among dicotyledonous plants - astroids (Compositae). Without even noticing it, we are confronted with its representatives almost daily - in everyday life, in cooking, and just on the street. Flowers of the family of astroids are almost the most common on our flower beds and gardens, and without any sunflower oil there is not a single kitchen.

Astro Family: General Characteristics

The family includes a very large number of genera, it is difficult to name the exact figure, it ranges from 1100 to 1300, and varieties over 20,000. Most of the plants are pollinated by insects. Distribution area is wide enough, representatives of this family are found in all climatic zones: from hot and humid tropics to cold tundra, high in the mountains and on the seaside. They grow on fertile chernozems and in the sands of deserts. A large number of species provided astronomers with wide economic application in human life.

A distinctive feature of all plants that includes the Astro family is a complex inflorescence - a basket that consists of many small and inconspicuous colors, but together they make up a very impressive picture.

The structure of the flower

The name of the inflorescence speaks for itself: a basket, that is, a certain capacity, into which something is stacked. The capacity is the pedicle widened at the end, it can be flat, convex or concave. Just on it there are numerous small flowers. And around it all is surrounded by one or several rows of bracts. All the flowers of the family are divided into five types:

• Tubular, often hermaphrodite and much less common than same-sex. They have a shape in the form of a tube that expands at the end or has a bend.
• Lazhnoyazychnkovye flowers - they are formed as a result of the splicing of the three petals and have the same number of denticles located on the upper edge.
• Ligulate - the corolla has the form of a shortened tube, from which the petals, fused together, flow. As a rule, they have five stamens and one pestle.
• Funnel-shaped - flowers of asymmetrical shape, asexual, corolla in the form of a long tube greatly expanded at the end (funnel).
• Two-edged flowers - the corolla tube is long enough, and two tongues (lips) are bent away from it. Can be bisexual or same-sex.

If we take for example the same sunflower, then we are all accustomed to perceive it as a separate lush and beautiful flower. And this is absolutely wrong from the point of view of botany. Since in reality it is an inflorescence, which contains more than 1000 individual small flowers (tubular), and wide and bright petals of orange or yellow color are reed flowers. Surprisingly complex and subtle organization, thought out by nature to the smallest detail.

Representatives of the family have the following flower formula:

* Ca _{(0, intergrown)} Co ₍₅₎ A ₍₅₎ G _(2).

It is characteristic of the entire family of astroids. The flower formula is deciphered as follows: flowers are bisexual, have several planes of symmetry, a cup, a halo of five petals, stamens 5, two pistils, an ovary over them.

Structure of leaves and roots

The structure of the leaves can only be said in general terms, since it is a fairly large group of plants represented by various life forms. Sunflower, burdock, thistle, asters and zinnia, Jerusalem artichoke, tree forms, yarrow, gerbera and many other species - all this family is astro. The general characteristic is that the arrangement of the leaves is usually the next, but it can also be opposite. Dimensions, and especially the shape, vary in a very wide range from a few millimeters to 2-3 meters. The venation in the family is most often pinnate. The leaves can be pubescent, the degree of expression is different, many plants have thorns.

The root is fairly well developed and in most plants has a core structure (a well-developed main root and a variety of subordinate). For example, it is enough to recall a typical representative of the family - dandelion medicinal, many are familiar with it and its root system . There may be modifications with thickenings resembling a tuber, for example in burdock.

What are the fruits of the family of astro plants?

Astrus (Compositae) have a fruit seed. It is dry, the seed contains one. The pericarp is leathery and does not rupture when ripe. It is widely distributed on the seed of various hairs, protrusions, peculiar hooks, which in turn contribute to the spread of seeds by the wind (from a dandelion, wormwood), with animals or people's clothing (string, burdock).

The life form of Compositae

Life forms are represented almost in full, and this is primarily due to a huge distribution area, but still astro (composite) - this is mainly herbaceous plants (annual or perennial). Dimensions vary in large limits - from very tiny representatives to giants several meters high.

Many species are semi-shrubs or shrubs of quite impressive size (up to 5-8 meters in height). For example, the melampodium is swamp, home to which are wet, swampy forests of Louisiana in the United States.

The family of astroids has representatives and among trees, although they are all inhabitants of the southern edges. For example, scales in the Galapagos Islands, which can reach 20 meters in height, but it is endemic, and more it does not occur in any corner of the planet. Or plants of the Brahilen genus from South Africa. Giant trees that have a fairly solid wood, resistant to rot, for which they are highly valued.

In the alpine meadows of New Zealand, the hatsia of the cuckoo forms whole thickets. It is a tree-like form that covers a fairly large area with a thick carpet up to half a meter in height (one plant can grow up to two meters in diameter).

They are found among the Composita liana (mikania, mucisia), succulents and even such a rare life form as a rolling field (cornflower broadleaf, asteriskus dwarfish).

Traditionally the entire family of astroids is divided into two subfamilies: tubercular and ligulate.

Subfamily astroves (tubercular)

The overwhelming majority of colors are tubular. This group of plants has more than a thousand genera and more than twenty tribes (a taxonomic rank in botany, which is by value below the family, but above the genus). For example, the most famous ones are astroids, calendula, sunflower, pupa, marigold and others.

Subfamily chicory (or lettuce)

Their second name is reed, unlike the previous family, they contain only seven tribes, and the number of genera about two hundred is a small part of the total number of plants included in the family of astroids. Representatives of the chicory grow on almost all continents, in our country the most famous species is the chicory ordinary, remarkable with bright blue flowers and spread as a weed. But nevertheless, the plant is a good honey, and in cooking, the root is used for making coffee.

Astrological family: nutritional value

The use of plants of this family in cooking is popular for a long time, the most famous example is sunflower oilseed. His homeland is North America. It has successfully acclimatized in our region, now sunflower is grown on an industrial scale. The most important product from it is, of course, sunflower oil. But in addition, seeds are obtained, salomas (hard fat, used for cooking margarine and soap), production wastes are used as animal feed.

Another bright and edible, but, unfortunately, we do not have a growing representative of the family - artichoke (pictured). Traditionally it is considered a vegetable, but in fact it is an unopened bud. As an independent dish or garnish it is widely distributed in the Mediterranean countries and in America.

The Jerusalem artichoke, cultivated not only as a food, but also as a technical and fodder plant, is famous for its taste qualities.

Decorative and medicinal value

With their decorative and beautifully flowering species, the family of astroids (photo) is famous for a long time.

Breeders deduced an uncountable number of varieties of garden flowers. Everyone knows the popular in flower shops chrysanthemums and gerberas. At least once everyone who has flowerbeds, grew asters or daisies, zinnias and marigolds, dahlias and ageratums.

Of medicinal plants the most popular and useful: chamomile pharmacy, yarrow arnica, string, milk thistle, wormwood, tansy, calendula and many others. Their curative effect on the body is checked and proven, the broths or infusions of these herbs are the most valuable homeopathic remedies.

Family astroves, whose representatives are known, perhaps, to everyone, gave the world an incredible amount of valuable economic, ornamental, medicinal plants.