Helenium 



COMPOSITAE 



987 



50 



Map 2164 



Helenium autumnale L 



was found in 1925 in Vigo County in a pasture north of Terre Haute by 

 A. R. Bechtel. 



S. C, n. Ind. to Kans., southw. to Fla. and Tex. 



9305. HELENIUM L. 



Disk of heads yellow; rays fertile. 



Leaves all linear-filiform, entire 1. H. temiifolium. 



Leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, sometimes broadest above the middle 



2. H. autumnale. 



Disk of heads brownish purple; rays sterile, yellow or partly or wholly purple 



3. H. nudiflorum. 



1. Helenium tenuifolium Nutt. Bitterweed. Map 2163. This species 

 has only recently appeared in this state, and, no doubt, in time will become 

 an obnoxious weed at least in the southern part of the state. I first found 

 it in 1931 in a 3-acre hogyard and it covered at least a fourth of the area. 

 Hogs in the yard did not feed upon it. It is a native of the southern states 

 and is introduced northward. 



Mass. to s. Ind. and Mo., southw. to Fla. and Tex. 



2. Helenium autumnale L. Common Sneezeweed. Map 2164. I have 

 included all of the forms of this complex species under this name. The 

 plants show a wide variation in the shape and size of the leaves and in the 

 number of heads on each plant, their size, and the length of the rays. The 

 heads of some plants are about 8 mm wide and others are about 16 mm ; 

 the rays of some plants are about 6 mm long while others will have rays 

 about 20 mm long. The pappus of the achenes is extremely variable, as 

 is also the color of the hairs on the bodies of the achenes, these varying from 

 white to reddish brown. This species is frequent throughout the state but 

 is never found in very large colonies and never becomes dominant as do the 

 other two species. It is said to be poisonous to stock. It grows in moist soil, 

 usually in the open, along ditches and streams and about lakes and ponds. 



W. Mass., w. Que., Man. to Oreg., southw. to Fla. and Nev. 



