Orange sneezeweed, sometimes also called Hoopes sneezeweed, owls- 

 claws, sunflower, western sneezeweed, and yellowweed, is a perennial 

 herb of the sneezeweed tribe (Helenieae) of the immense aster, or 

 composite family (Asteraceae, or Compositae). It is one of the im- 

 portant western poisonous plants and sometimes proves a very seri- 

 ous handicap to profitable range sheep raising, especially in Utah. 



Helenium is Latinized from the Greek word hclenion, an old plant 

 name possibly referring to this genus or, more likely, to the related, 

 cultivated elecampane (Inula helenium). The ancient plant helen- 

 ion is said by some to have been named in honor of the famous Helen 

 of Troy, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta, and whose abduction by 

 Paris "fired a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilion." 

 Others state that the plant commemorates another outstanding figure 

 of the Trojan War, the warrior-seer Helenus, son of Priam and He- 

 cuba, by whose advice the Greeks built the celebrated wooden horse 

 whereby they entered the walls of Troy (Ilium, or Ilion) and cap- 

 tured it. The name of the species is in honor of its first collector, 

 Thomas Hoopes. 



Orange sneezeweed extends from eastern Oregon to western Mon- 

 tana and southward to New Mexico and California. Although its 

 altitudinal range is from 5,000 to 12,500 feet, or from the pon- 

 derosa pine belt to well above timberline, it most frequently occurs 

 between elevations of about 7,000 and 10,500 feet. It prefers moist, 

 well-drained soils on sunny slopes of the aspen and spruce-fir belts, 

 but it also thrives in open parks, mountain meadows, and along 

 streambanks or near colonies of willows. Where the range is prop- 

 erly managed and normal vegetative conditions obtain the species 

 typically occurs in small, scattered patches. On range subjected by 

 overgrazing and overstocking to prolonged soil and cover deteriora- 

 tion this aggressive invader may be locally abundant and even the 

 dominant species on extensive areas. 



Wherever good forage plants are plentiful orange sneezeweed is 

 so low in palatability as to be scarcely grazed, with the occasional 

 exception of young plants, which are sometimes moderately grazed 

 by sheep. It is, however, grazed by all classes of livestock when 

 palatable plants are lacking, and this situation makes it a source of 

 danger. The entire plant is poisonous, at least to sheep, at all sea- 

 sons, but since the effects of the poison are cumulative a single or even 

 several feedings usually have no noticeable effect, if the animal has 

 not previously grazed it. Sheep that graze orange sneezeweed to 

 any great extent, however, eventually become sick and are often so 

 seriously affected that death results. Although experiments 1 have 

 shown that orange sneezeweed is proportionately as poisonous to 

 cattle as it is to sheep and occasional instances of the death of cattle 

 have been directly attributed to it, there is little danger of cattle 

 losses under range conditions, due to the greater bodily size of cattle 



1 Marsh, C. D., Clawson, A. B., Couch, J. P., and Marsh. H. WESTERN SNEEZEWEED 



(HKLBNIUM HOOPESII) AS A POISONOUS PLANT. U. S. Dept. Agf. Bull. 947, 46 pp., illuS. 



1921. See also Marsh, C. D. STOCK-POISONING PLANTS OP THE RANOE. U. S. Dept. 

 Agr. Bull. 1245, rev., 75 pp., illus. 1929. Supersedes Bull. 575. 



