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Glite Dictionary
Compositae

Compositae

9.9
A large family of flowering plants like daisies, sunflowers, and dandelions
  • noun
  • /kəmˈpɒzɪti/
  • Specialized
translation icon : Compuestas
  • PHOTO (COLOR): Mountain Burnet Moth (Zygaena exulans) feeds on compositae sp.
  • family Compositae

Examples

  • By contrast, the preferential destruction of organelle DNA occurs in plants such as the Compositae, which have a relatively small cytoplasm-to-nucleus ratio.

    Academic text (1996)

  • All daisies belong to the family Compositae (Asteraceae), so named because the blossoms are composite, consisting of a crowd of small disk flowers surrounded by one or more layers of large ray petals.

  • Chamomile is a native of the Old World and is a member of the daisy family (Asteraceae or Compositae).

  • Asters, named for the Latin word for star, are members of the family Compositae and exhibit the group's typical daisylike flower heads.

Synonyms

Asteraceae
vsCompositae
  • Specialized
9.0

A large group of plants with flower heads made of many small flowers, like daisies and sunflowers

is the older traditional name rather than the scientific form
aster family
vsCompositae
  • Specialized
5.3

A family of plants that have flowers like daisies and sunflowers

is the formal botanical alternative used in scientific contexts

Surface Forms

Compositae singular
Compositaes plural

Etymology

Compositae comes from Latin parts com- 'together' and ponere 'to place' and is like the English word composite, which means 'made of parts'. That's why these plants are called Compositae: each 'flower head' is actually 'made of' many small flowers joined together.