Latin tussis — a cough, an allusion to the medicinal properties of the leaves.
Perennial herbs, rhizomatous, hairy. Stems scape-like, erect, with bracts. Leaves basal, almost round, base caudate, margins toothed, shallowly lobed, petiolate. Capitula radiate, terminal, solitary, with stalks. Involucral bracts in 1 or 2 rows, overlapping, more or less equal. Receptacle slightly convex. Ray florets female, ligulate, yellow. Disk florets functionally male, tubular, yellow. Achenes cylindrical, 5-ribbed. Pappus of barbed bristles.
Large, rounded, toothed basal leaves; bracteate scapes; narrow ligules.
1 species from Europe, Asia and North Africa.
Source: (2002). Dahlia. 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.