Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Sawtooth Sunflower - Helianthus grosseserratus   Martens
Members of Asteraceae:
Members of Helianthus with account distribution info or public map:
Google Images
Section 6 » Order Asterales » Family Asteraceae
Show/Hide Synonym
AuthorMartens
DistributionThere are 5 specimens scattered in the Piedmont and southern Mountains. The Transylvania specimen was annotated to H. giganteus x grosseserratus by R.W. Long in 1953. The Richmond County population was found in 2022 by Terry Sharpe in a powerline through a mafic soil area.

Native of the Midwest; spread eastward via cultivation.
AbundanceVery rare.
HabitatRoadsides, wooded slope (Transylvania Co.), powerline in mafic soil.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting July-October.
IdentificationThis is a tall plant among tall plants -- it has been known to reach 14 feet! The leaves are not particularly "gross-serrate"; in fact, they are barely toothed or have slender but rather long teeth. The leaves are numerous, long, taper-pointed, and lance-shaped to narrowly elliptical. The involucres (bracts surrounding the base of the head) are broad and their outer portions are oriented in various directions. H. giganteus leaves are distinctly scabrous on the upper surface (vs. scarcely so in H. grosseserratus).
Taxonomic Comments
Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE
Global RankG5
State Status
US Status
USACE-agcpFAC link
USACE-empFACW link
County Map - click on a county to view source of record.
Select a source
AllHerbaria
Select an occurrence type
AllCollection_non_natural