Succulent herbs, rarely undershrubs, glabrous or hispid. Leaves alternate, entire, toothed or pinnatisect. Heads solitary or in corymbs, bracteolate at base, homogamous, discoid, yellow or purplish. Florets all bisexual, fertile, tubular, limb 5-toothed. Involucre cylindric or subcampanulate, calyculate at base, bracts 10-12, in 1 series, narrow, equal, with scarious margins. Receptacle flat, pitted or shortly fimbrillate. Anther base entire or subauriculate. Style arms slender, tips long, subulate, hispid. Achenes narrow, many-ribbed. Pappus copious, bristles slender, white.
About 40 species in tropical Africa and Asia, Madagascar and northern Australia. Four species in Taiwan.
Davies, F. G. 1979. The genus Gynura (Compositae) in Eastern Asia and the Himalayas. Kew Bull. 33(4): 629-640.