Helenium autumnale
| Helenium autumnale | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Helenium |
| Species: | H. autumnale
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| Binomial name | |
| Helenium autumnale L. 1753
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| Synonyms[2] | |
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Helenium autumnale is a North American species of poisonous[3] flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Common names include common sneezeweed and large-flowered sneezeweed.[4][5][6]
Description
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Common sneezeweed is a perennial herb up to 130 cm (51+1⁄3 in; 4+1⁄3 ft) tall. In late summer and fall, one plant can produce as many as 100 yellow flower heads in a branching array. Each head has yellow 11–21 ray florets surrounding sometimes as many as 800 yellow disc florets.[7][8] Leaves are dark green, alternate, and lance-shaped. The Latin specific epithet autumnale is in reference to the plant's autumn flowering.[9]
Distribution and habitat
[edit]This plant is widespread across much of the United States and Canada, from Northwest Territories as far south as far northern California, Arizona, Louisiana, and Florida. It has not been found in southern or central California, or the 4 Atlantic Provinces of Canada.[10][11][12][13] It grows in moist, open areas along streams and ponds as well as wet meadows.[14]
Ecology
[edit]The flowers attract various pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and wasps. Because the plant is pollinated by insects, not wind pollinated, it does not cause seasonal allergies or sneezing, despite its common name.[8]
Cultivation
[edit]Common sneezeweed is cultivated as a garden perennial. There are multiple named varieties varying in color and height. 'Pumilum Magnificum' is a yellow variety about two feet tall. 'Bruno', a reddish-brown cultivar, 'Kupfersprudel', which is yellow/orange, and 'Butterpat', which is golden, all grow 3 to 3.5 feet (91 to 107 centimetres) tall. 'Chippersfield Orange' is up to 0.91 metres (3 ft) tall and is orange streaked with gold.[15]
Uses
[edit]Health
[edit]Only in small amounts, the plant has some health benefits. The dried nearly mature flower heads are used in a powdered form as a snuff to treat colds and headaches. When made into a tea they are used in the treatment of intestinal worms. The powdered leaves are sternutatory. An infusion of the leaves is laxative and alterative. An infusion of the stems has been used as a wash in the treatment of fevers. The plant contains helenalin, a compound that has shown significant anti-tumour activity.[1]
Folk remedies
[edit]The plant owes its name to the use of its dried leaves in snuff, the inhaling of which causes sneezing—supposedly casting out evil spirits.[16][17]
References
[edit]- ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org.
- ^ "Helenium autumnale". The Global Compositae Checklist (GCC) – via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
- ^ Sneezeweed (Helenium hoopesii). Agricultural Research Service. Retrieved on 25 Sept. 2023
- ^ Wilkinson, Kathleen (1999), Wildflowers of Alberta A Guide to Common Wildflowers and Other Herbaceous Plants, Edmonton, Alberta: Lone Pine Publishing and University of Alberta, p. 112, ISBN 0-88864-298-9
- ^ Peterson, Roger T.; McKenny, Margaret (1968), A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-Central North America (9th ed.), Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-91172-9
- ^ Vance, F R; J.R. Rowsey, J.S. Maclean and F.A. Switzer (1999), Wildflowers across the prairies: With a new section on Grasses, sedges and rushes, Vancouver, British Columbia: Western Producer Prairie Books, p. 299, ISBN 1-55054-703-8
- ^ Bierner, Mark W. (2006), "Helenium autumnale", in Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.), Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA), vol. 21, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA
- ^ a b "Common Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale)". www.illinoiswildflowers.info.
- ^ "Helenium autumnale - Plant Finder". www.missouribotanicalgarden.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.), "Helenium autumnale", The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov), Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team, retrieved 2007-05-08
- ^ "Helenium autumnale", County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA), Biota of North America Program (BONAP), 2014
- ^ Biota of North America Program 2014 state-level distribution map
- ^ Calflora taxon report, University of California, Helenium autumnale L., common sneezeweed
- ^ "Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin". www.wildflower.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Crockett, James U. (1972), Perennials (2 ed.), New York: Time-Life Books
- ^ Niering, William A.; Olmstead, Nancy C. (1985) [1979]. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region. Knopf. p. 383. ISBN 0-394-50432-1.
- ^ Trull, Sue. "Plant of the Week: Common sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale L. var. autumnale)". US Forestry Service. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
The common name is based on historic use of the crushed dried leaves and heads to make a form of snuff that caused sneezing. In certain cultures and times, sneezing was regarded as a desirable way to rid the body of evil spirits or a way to loosen up a head cold, so that a sneeze-producing remedy was desirable.
