Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin

SNEEZEWEED

(Helenium autumnale L.)


Sneezeweed

ASTER FAMILY (Compositae or Asteraceae)

IND. STATUS: FACW+

FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: A perennial herb 30-150 cm. high. The stems are usually winged with well-developed, alternate, flat, stem leaves. The leafy inflorescence contains several heads of both ray and disc flowers. The flower head contains perfect, yellow flowers. The yellow, "squared-off" ray flowers tend to be sterile, and are generally 3-toothed. The diagnostic features of sneezeweed are its winged stems and bent back ray flowers with 3 teeth. In flower from August to October.

ECOLOGICAL NOTES: Sneezeweed is common in wet to wet-mesic prairies and other inland fresh meadows. It is often seen along streambanks.

SOURCE: Gleason and Cronquist (1991); and Swink and Wilhelm (1994).


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