''Microseris'' is a genus of plants in the tribe

Cichorieae The Cichorieae (also called Lactuceae) are a tribe in the plant family Asteraceae that includes 93 genera, more than 1,600 sexually reproductive species and more than 7,000 apomictic species. They are found primarily in temperate regions of the E ...

within the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

, plants that often called composites. They are native to

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South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Plants in the genus can either be annuals or

perennials In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

. Perennial plants in ''Microseris'' usually have a

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot ...

or a

caudex A caudex (: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is most ...

with the exception of ''Microseris borealis'', which is

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

. The leaves are mostly or entirely basal, growing very near the surface of the soil rather than being held on stems above ground level. When blooming the flowers are alone on the top of stems and are held upright when blooming and when producing seeds. The flowers are shades of orange or yellow with a superficial resemblance to

dandelions ''Taraxacum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus has a near-cosmopolitan distribu ...

. There is currently disagreement about which species should be placed in ''Microseris''.

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

(POWO) synonymizes genus ''

Nothocalais ''Nothocalais'' is a genus of North American flowering plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. There are known generally as false dandelions or false agoseris. As of 2023 all four of these species are classified in ''Nothoc ...

'' into ''Microseris''. While the USDA

Natural Resources Conservation Service Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and ...

PLANTS database (PLANTS),

World Flora Online World Flora Online is an Internet-based compendium of the world's plant species. Description The World Flora Online (WFO) is an open-access database, launched in October 2012 as a follow-up project to The Plant List, with the aim of publishi ...

(WFO), the Global Compositae Database (GCD), and

Flora of North America The ''Flora of North America North of Mexico'' (usually referred to as ''FNA'') is a multivolume work describing the native plants and naturalized plants of North America, including the United States, Canada, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and Greenla ...

(FNA) continue to list ''Nothocalais'' as a separate genus as of 2023. The only species classified by WFO in ''Nothocalais'' is ''Microseris nigrescens'' as ''Nothocalais nigrescens'', which is also the classification in PLANTS and FNA. The other species classified by PLANTS and FNA as ''Nothocalais'' are ''Microseris alpestris'' ('' N. alpestris''), ''Microseris cuspidata'' ('' N. cuspidata''), and ''Microseris troximoides'' ('' N. troximoides''). According to POWO ''Microseris'' contains the following 22 species:

References

External links

*
Jepson Manual Treatment: ''Microseris''
{{Authority control Asteraceae genera