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Published In: Species Plantarum 2: 886. 1753. (1 May 1753) (Sp. Pl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/11/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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2. Helenium autumnale L. (common sneezeweed, autumn sneezeweed)

H. autumnale var. canaliculatum (Lam.) Torr. & A. Gray

H. autumnale var. parviflorum (Nutt.) Fernald

Pl. 279 e, f; Map 1185

Plants perennial herbs, with fibrous roots. Stems erect or ascending, 30–150 cm long, few- to many-branched above the midpoint, narrowly several-winged, glabrous or sparsely to densely pubescent with short, sometimes curved or curled, more or less spreading to loosely ascending hairs, also moderately dotted with sessile to impressed, yellow glands. Leaves glabrous or more commonly moderately to densely pubescent with short, sometimes curved, mostly spreading hairs, also densely dotted with sessile to impressed, yellow glands. Basal and lowermost stem leaves absent or withered at flowering, somewhat smaller than the median stem leaves, the blade oblanceolate to obovate, unlobed or with a few shallow, rounded, pinnate lobes. Median and upper stem leaves 4–15 cm long, oblanceolate to elliptic, less commonly lanceolate, oblong, or obovate, unlobed, the margins entire or finely to coarsely toothed (often only above the midpoint), tapered at the base, long-decurrent as narrow wings of green tissue along the stem, angled or tapered to a usually sharply pointed tip. Involucre 8–20 mm long, 8–23 mm in diameter, the outer series of involucral bracts fused at the base, the midnerve inconspicuous, not thickened, the outer surface moderately to densely pubescent with minute, curved hairs, both surfaces also moderately gland-dotted. Ray florets 8–21, pistillate (with a 2-branched style exserted from the short tube at flowering and a well-developed ovary that potentially develops into a fruit), the corolla (3–)8–25 mm long, yellow. Disc florets with the corolla 2.5–3.5 mm long, yellow, 5-lobed. Pappus of mostly 5–7 scales, 0.5–0.9 mm long, the awned tip relatively short. Fruits 1–2 mm long, narrowly wedge-shaped, with (5–)8 often lighter-colored ribs, the surface brown, moderately to densely pubescent with white to straw-colored hairs, mostly along the ribs. 2n=32, 34, 36. August–November.

Scattered nearly throughout the state, but uncommon or absent in the Mississippi Lowlands Division and the western portion of the Glaciated Plains (nearly throughout the U.S.; Canada). Banks of streams, rivers, and spring branches, margins of ponds, lakes, and sinkhole ponds, sloughs, fens, and calcareous seeps, marshes, bottomland prairies, moist depressions of upland prairies, and bottomland forests; also pastures, ditches, railroads, roadsides, and moist, open, disturbed areas.

This widespread species comprises populations exhibiting complex variation for an array of morphological characters that seem to vary independently, and several infraspecific taxa have been described. Steyermark (1963) accepted three varieties as occurring in Missouri: the smaller-headed var. parviflorum, the narrow-leaved var. canaliculatum, and the var. autumnale for plants not fitting either of the preceding extremes. There seems little purpose served in attempting to recognize formal infraspecific taxa in Missouri.

For a discussion of putative hybrids between this species and other perennial sneezeweeds, see the treatments of H. flexuosum and H. virginicum. Native Americans used a powder from the dried heads of this and other species of Helenium as snuff to induce sneezing as a treatment for headaches, colds, blocked sinuses, and so on (Moerman, 1998). An infusion of the stems was applied to the skin for fevers.

 


 

 
 
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