The term SUNFLOWER RELATIVE refers to two flowering plants, ASTER and Zinnia. ASTER is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, with around 180 species distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Zinnia is a genus of 20 species of annual and perennial plants in the family Asteraceae, native to scrub and dry grassland in an area stretching from the Southwestern United States to South America. Both ASTER and Zinnia are closely related to the sunflower and share many of its characteristics.