Saussurea is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants in the thistle tribe within the daisy family, native to cool temperate and arctic regions of Asia, Europe, and North America, with the highest diversity in alpine habitats in the Himalaya and central Asia. Common names include saw-wort and snow lotus, the latter used for a number of high altitude species in central Asia. De Candolle named the genus after Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799) and Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure (1767–1845).