SNEEZEWEED (Helenium pubentlum, D.C.). Flower heads 

 solitary on long peduncles, at the ends of clustered branch- 

 lets, the spherical disk about \ inch across of reddish-brown 

 florets, the rays yellow, much shorter than the disk is wide, 

 rather inconspicuous, and usually drooping. Leaves alter- 

 nate, lance-shaped, the upper an inch or two long (the lowest 

 4 to 6 inches long), without footstalks and their margins con- 

 tinuous with the stems for a considerable distance. A dark 

 green herbaceous perennial, 2 to 5 feet high, frequent along 

 shady mountain streams and in moist ground throughout 

 California, blooming from June to October. 



The flower heads of Sneezeweed are very peppery and bitter. 

 The powdered flowers and leaves of an eastern species (H. 

 autumnale, L.) have been used to produce sneezing, whence 

 the common name; and doubtless our species would have the 

 same effect. Mr. Chesnut records a Yokia Indian name for 

 the plant that means Beaver Flower probably originating 

 in a fancied resemblance of the winged stems to a beaver's 

 tail. A Spanish-California name for it is Rosilla "little 



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