Composite Family
Composite Family, or Compositae, the largest family of flowering plants. It contains about 12,000 species, found all over the world. Among the more common members of this family are lettuce and the daisy, dandelion, chrysanthemum, dahlia, aster, and thistle.
The outstanding characteristic of the family is the arrangement of many tiny flowers into compact heads on common stalks. There are generally (but not always) two kinds of flowers in the headray flowers ("petals") and clusters of tiny tubular disk flowers. The daisy has both kinds. The thistle has only disk flowers and the dandelion only ray flowers.
Some scientists divide the family into two subfamiliesthe aster or thistle family and the dandelion or lettuce family.
The family Compositae belongs to the subclass Dicotyledoneae of the class Angiospermae.
Composite plants have an arrangement of small flowers in compact heads on common stalks.