The natural distribution of the about sixty species belonging to this family is restricted to the southern half of South America.

Each individual flowerhead is surrounded by an involucre, consisting of one or two rows of bracts that are often leaf-like and usually not merged.

The petals are fused to form a funnel-shaped or sometimes cylinder-shaped corolla that is split into four to six lobes at the top.

The style is thread-like without hairs, sticking out above the corolla tube, while the stigma at its tip is club-shaped or split in two.

The fruit is an achene, with a persistent calyx which may consists of spines, contains one seed that is only enclosed by a thin pericarp and has fleshy endosperm.

Fruits may be dispersed separately when ripe or can remain on the floral base that breaks free of the plant.

[3] Both Calyceraceae and Asteraceae have their flowers set in heads with a common floral base.