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When did the earliest Asteraceae plants likely evolve?
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Asteraceae
The flowering head of a sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is formed of yellow, petal-like ray flowers and a brown center of minute disk flowers.
Paleobotanists suggest that the earliest members of the Asteraceae family likely evolved approximately 50 million years ago. This estimate is based on the discovery of well-preserved fossils found in Argentina that date to the Eocene Epoch, which spanned from 56 million to 33.9 million years ago.1