''Critonia'' is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the tribe Eupatorieae of the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. The most notable trait that characterizes the genus is the presence of pellucid punctations caused by internal secretory pockets of the leaves - to be seen these must be viewed with a hand lens while holding the leaf up to light in most species of the genus. Most species of ''Critonia'' also have smooth opposite leaves, a shrubby habit, unenlarged style bases, relatively few (3-5) flowers per head, and imbricate involucres.King, R. M. and H. Robinson. 1987. The genera of the Eupatorieae (Asteraceae). Monographs in Systematic Botany, Missouri Botanical Garden 22: 1-581. ; Species The genus is native to Mexico, Central America, South America, and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5186903 Asteraceae genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot