1
: a very large family of herbs, shrubs, and trees (order Campanulales) considered to constitute the most highly evolved plants and characterized by florets arranged in dense heads that resemble single flowers, each floret having a gamopetalous, ligulate, or tubular corolla and a calyx modified into a pappus (as in the dandelion, sunflower, aster, and ragweed)
2
in some classifications
a
: a superfamilial group that is coextensive with the family Compositae and is divided into the families Carduaceae, Cichoriaceae, and Ambrosiaceae
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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