in botany: A genus of the polygamia segregata order, belonging to the syngenesia class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 49th order, Compositae. The common calyx consists of distinct florets, between each of which are short squames, the whole forming a round head. The partial calyx is bivalved. The corolla is small and funnel-shaped, the tube small as a thread, the lacinia short and acute. The stamens are five; the style bifid. It has no other seed vessel except the partial calyx, which contains a long three-sided seed. Of this there is only one species, viz. the Argentea; a native of the West Indies, and found in copses and waste lands.