After Jonathan Stokes (1755-1831), an English physician and botanist.

Perennial herbs, hairy. Stems erect, much-branched. Leaves basal and along stems, alternate, margins entire or spiny towards base, midrib pale, petiolate or sessile. Capitula radiate, terminal, solitary or few to many in corymbs, with stalks. Involucral bracts in many rows, overlapping, unequal, spiny. Receptacle flat. Ray florets bisexual, ligulate, 5-lobed, purplish blue, pink or white. Disk florets bisexual, tubular, same colour as ray florets. Achenes obovoid, 3- or 4-angled, glabrous. Pappus of linear white deciduous scales.

Large radiate cornflower-like capitula, often with purplish blue, expanded, 5-lobed ligules.

1 species from SE USA.

Source: Lawson, L.; Spencer, R. (2002). Dahlia. In: Spencer, R.. 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.