Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
49. Asteraceae, the Aster Family
11. Helenium L. -- Sneezeweed1. Helenium autumnale L.
Erect, fibrous-rooted perennial 3-11 dm tall; stems single or clustered, puberulent or strigulose, especially above. Leaves alternate, ovate-lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate or oblanceolate, 4-10 cm long, 0.8-3.5 cm wide, puberulent, glandular-punctate, acute to acuminate, entire to shallowly toothed, tapered to a narrow base which is decurrent as wings on the stem. Heads radiate (1) few to many in a leafy inflorescence, hemispheric to subglobose, 1.5-4 cm across; involucral bracts in 2-3 series, not imbricate, linear and ultimately deflexed, puberulent; receptacle convex, naked; ray florets 10-20, pistillate or sterile, the ligules yellow, (2)3(4)-lobed, 1.5-2.5 cm long; disk florets perfect, the corollas yellow to brownish, glandular; style branches flat with broadened tips. Achenes 4- to 5-angled, 1.5-2 mm long, appressed-hairy with white to coppery hairs; pappus of several hyaline, awn-tipped scales. Late Jul--Sep. Wet meadows, shores, stream banks, seepage areas and swales; frequent in the e part, scattered w to ne MT and se WY; (Que. to B.C., s to FL and AZ).
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