Aldama (plant)

Aldama is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The native range of this genus is tropical & sub-tropical America. The genus was originally described to include one (later two) species of subtribe Helianthinae that were characterized by having pales that tightly enclosed the cypselae (achenes) (see Feddema, 1971).

It was first published and described in P.de La Llave & J.M.de Lexarza, Nov. Veg. Descr. 1: 14 in 1824.

Aldama is currently, characterized by having a perennial herbaceous habit, a pappus usually of awns and scales, and a multi-seriate involucre.

Botanists Schilling & Panero in 2002 and 2011, studied the subtribe Helianthinae based on molecular sequences of nuclear ITS, ETS, and cpDNA, coming to a conclusion that that the genus Viguiera, did not constitute a monophyletic group. Among their conclusions they proposed to reclassify the genus, dividing and relocating its species in at least eleven genera: Aldama, Bahiopsis , Calanticaria , Davilanthus , Dendroviguiera , Gonzalezia , Heiseria , Heliomeris , Hymenostephium , Sidneya and Viguiera. So Aldama has been expanded to include a total of 115-118 species.

Distribution
It is native to (countries of): Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, northern and central Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, United States (in the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas) and Venezuela.