Flora for Hikers: Sunflower Family

Flowers have families like people do, well sort of.  By recognizing the family to which a plant belongs is the best way to quickly and accurately identify any plant among the thousands of possibilities encountered on the trail in Arizona.  The Sunflower Family is a good place to begin.  It is the largest family of plants in Arizona and one of the most easily recognized.  We will examine the key characteristics of this family to take the mystery out of plant identification for Arizona hikers.