Common sneezeweed, hélénie automnale

Helenium autumnale var. canaliculatum (Lamarck) Torrey & A. Gray; H. autumnale var. fylesii B. Boivin; H. autumnale var. grandiflorum Torrey & A. Gray; H. autumnale var. montanum (Nuttall) Fernald; H. autumnale var. parviflorum (Nuttall) Fernald; H. latifolium Miller; H. parviflorum Nuttall

Perennials, 50–130 cm. Stems 1(–7), branched distally, strongly winged, sparsely to densely hairy proximally, moderately to densely hairy distally. Leaves usually moderately to densely hairy, sometimes glabrous; basal blades (withered by flowering) lanceolate, oblanceolate, or obovate, entire or weakly lobed; proximal and mid blades obovate to oblanceolate, usually dentate or entire; distal blades oblanceolate to lanceolate, entire or dentate. Heads 5–70(–100+) per plant, in paniculiform arrays. Peduncles 3–10 cm, moderately to densely hairy. Involucres globoid, 8–20 × 8–23 mm. Phyllaries (connate proximally) moderately to densely hairy. Ray florets 8–21, pistillate, fertile; corollas yellow, 10–23 × 4–10 mm. Disc florets 200–400(–800+); corollas yellow proximally, yellow to yellow-brown distally, 2.4–4 mm, lobes 5. Cypselae 1–2 mm, sparsely to moderately hairy; pappi of 5–7 entire, aristate scales (0.5–)0.9–1.5(–1.8) mm. 2n = 32, 34, 36.

Flowering (Jul–)Aug–Oct(–Nov). Roadsides, fields, along streams, ditches, seepage areas, around ponds and lakes; 20–2600 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.W.T., Ont., Que., Sask.; Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Va., Wash., W.Va., Wyo.