ASTERACEAE

Helenium amarum

Common Name:  Sneezeweed, Bitterweed

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habit--Helenium amarum is a Summer-flowering annual head closeup--notice how the ray corollas are pointed downward and how the disk is somewhat spherical.  Also, notice how there is a definite space between each ray--Helenium ray corollas often appear like spokes on a wheel.

Helenium amarum var badium flowers.jpg (20334 bytes)

Gaillardia Helenium.jpg (118422 bytes)
in some parts of the state (such as in the sandy soils of the Llano Uplift), the disk flowers of Helenium amarum are more commonly brown instead of yellow--these plants are described as H. amarum var. badium (the yellow-disked plants are called H. amarum var. amarum, but you are not responsible for remembering variety names). Helenium can become the dominant plant in some settings, especially under heavy grazing (because livestock avoid eating it)--Which variety of H. amarum is this?

Helenium amarum var badium leaves.jpg (60855 bytes)

 
leaves--what leaf shape is present here?