Helenium bigelovii
| Helenium bigelovii | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Tribe: | Helenieae |
| Genus: | Helenium |
| Species: | H. bigelovii |
| Binomial name | |
| Helenium bigelovii A. Gray |
|
The daisylike plant Helenium bigelovii is known as Bigelow's sneezeweed. It is a 1 to 3ft-high plant of the "composite" family (sunflower, or aster family) that bears ray flowers that are usually bright yellow in color and disc flowers that are yellow in bloom and then turn dark brown. The flowerheads have a characteristic shape with a very spherical disc and the 14-30 "petals" (the ray flowers) reflexed downward and toothed or lobed at their ends.
Bigelow sneezeweed grows in moist areas such as meadows, marshes, or streamsides. It is found at moderate and higher elevations (3000-10,000ft) in the foothills and mountains of California. Cultivars are raised as ornamentals. The species is named for J.M. Bigelow, a plant collector on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey in the 1850's.
[edit] References
- Laird R. Blackwell, Wildflowers of the Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley, Lone Pine Publishing, 1998.
- Norman F. Weeden, A Sierra Nevada Flora, 4th Ed., Wilderness Press, 1996.
