 The genus is characterized by having a secondary clustering of heads into compound units, so that what appears to be a single head is actually a group of heads packed together.The genus is classified as a member of subtribe Helianthinae, the same subtribe that contains the common sunflower ("Helianthus").Based on the reported chromosome counts, "Alvordia" includes both diploid and polyploid species, but the relationships among these have not yet been studied in detail.