| Author | Torrey & A. Gray | |
| Distribution | Southern half of the Piedmont and southern Mountains. Specimens from Swain County are misidentified and appear to be H. microcephalus.
A rather limited range -- central VA and eastern WV, south to NC and SC. | |
| Abundance | Uncommon as a whole, but can be locally common; the NCNHP has many records of good to excellent viability in its database. Though the State considers it as a Special Concern species, there are enough records to move it to the Watch List. | |
| Habitat | Dry, shallow soils of open woodlands (may include Red Cedar stands), wooded borders, roadbanks, and powerline clearings. In NC, many populations occur in the Carolina Slate Belt. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting August-October. | |
| Identification | Smooth Sunflower should present little trouble to identify, with its 3-6 foot tall stems, plus its glabrous and glaucescent stems and leaves. Leaves are lance-shaped to slightly broader, with very short stalks (less than 1 cm). Small Wood Sunflower (H. microcephalus) may be confused with it, but it has shorter rays, smaller disks, and longer leafstalks. Normally, you should feel the leaf surfaces, and note the almost "rubbery" texture of each leaf. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S3 | |
| Global Rank | G4 | |
| State Status | SC-V | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
