Helenium bigelovii is a North American perennial plant in the sunflower family, commonly known as Bigelow's sneezeweed.[2] It grows in moist areas such as meadows, marshes, or streamsides. It is found at moderate and higher elevations (3000–10,000 ft) in the foothills and mountains of California and Oregon: Cascades, Coast Ranges, Klamath Mountains, Sierra Nevada, etc.[3][4][5] Cultivars of the species are used in gardening as ornamentals.

Helenium bigelovii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Helenium
Species:
H. bigelovii
Binomial name
Helenium bigelovii
A. Gray 1857
Synonyms[1]
  • Heleniastrum rivulare Greene
  • Helenium rivulare (Greene) Rydb.
Bigelow sneezeweed as dominant flower in a mountain meadow

Helenium bigelovii is a perennial herb sometimes as much as 130 cm (51 in; 4.5 ft) tall. One plant can produce as many as 20 flower heads, either one per branch or in branching arrays. Each head has 14-20 yellow ray florets (bending backwards and with teeth at the tips) surrounding sometimes as many as 800 disc florets (yellow at first, turning brown as they get older).[2][6][7][8]

The species is named for J.M. Bigelow, a plant collector on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey in the 1850s.

References

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