Latin cinereus - ashen, an allusion to the greyish down on the leaves of some species.
Perennial herbs or subshrubs, glabrous to densely hairy. Stems erect or ascending. Leaves basal and/or along stems, alternate, margins toothed to divided. Capitula radiate or rarely diskoid, terminal in corymbs, with stalks. Involucral bracts in 1row, overlapping at base, equal. Receptacle flat. Ray florets female, ligulate, yellow. Disk florets bisexual, tubular, yellow or green. Achenes obovate, compressed, margins thickened or winged. Pappus of many fine deciduous bristles.
One species has become a minor weed in Australia.
Florist's Cineraria, also popular as a bedding plant, is now placed in Pericallis ×hybrida.
Greyish downy leaves in some species; palmately veined leaves; achenes with thickened or winged margins.
About 30 species from Africa and Madagascar.
Nordenstrom (1978).
Source: (2002). Asteraceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.