''Camchaya'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of flowering plants in 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 ...

. They are native to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, including

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

,''Camchaya''.
Flora of China. and

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

.Bunwong, S., et al. (2012)
A new species of ''Camchaya'' (Asteraceae, Vernonieae) from Thailand.
''PhytoKeys'' 12: 53–57. These are annual herbs with coatings of hairs and globose glandular structures. The alternately arranged leaves have wavy or serrated blades on petioles. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

which can be terminal or axillary. Some inflorescences have few

flower heads A pseudanthium (; : pseudanthia) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, composite flowers ...

, and some heads are solitary. The hemispherical head has up to 6 layers of

phyllaries In botanical terminology, a phyllary, also known an involucral bract or tegule, is a single bract of the involucre of a composite flower. The involucre is the grouping of bracts together. Phyllaries are reduced leaf-like structures that form one o ...

. It contains many purple florets which are tubular and expanded at the mouth into five pointed lobes and bear a long, branching

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

. The fruit is a compressed

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple fruit, simple dry fruits, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and Dehi ...

, usually with ten ribs, but sometimes with five. Some achenes have a pappus of up to 10 fragile bristles. The

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

of plants in the genus has a unique "6-porate echinolophate" morphology. ; Accepted species Species accepted by the

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 ...

as of March 2023: *'' Camchaya bolavenensis'' *'' Camchaya calcicola'' *'' Camchaya gracilis'' *'' Camchaya kampotensis'' *'' Camchaya konplongensis'' *'' Camchaya loloana'' *'' Camchaya pentagona'' *'' Camchaya spinulifera'' *'' Camchaya tenuiflora'' *'' Camchaya thailandica'' Some recent publications suggest moving some of these taxa to other genera ''(

Vernonia ''Vernonia'' is a genus of about 350 species of forbs and shrubs in the family Asteraceae. Some species of this genus are known as ironweeds. Some species are edible and of economic value. They are known for having intense purple flowers. There h ...

'' and '' Iodocephalopsis).''Bunwong, S., et al. (2009)
Taxonomic notes on ''Camchaya'' and ''Iodocephalus'' (Vernonieae: Asteraceae), and a new genus ''Iodocephalopsis''.
''Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington'' 122(3), 357–63.

References

Asteraceae genera Vernonieae Taxa named by François Gagnepain {{Asteraceae-stub