Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Showy Sunflower - Helianthus laetiflorus   Persoon
Members of Asteraceae:
Members of Helianthus with account distribution info or public map:
Flora of SE USGoogle Images
Section 6 » Family Asteraceae
Show/Hide Synonym
AuthorPersoon
DistributionMostly in the Piedmont; scattered records in the Coastal Plain, Sandhills, and southern Mountains.

Native of the Midwest; cultivated and escaped eastward.
AbundanceUncommon in the Piedmont; rare elswehere.
HabitatRoadsides, fields, cropfield.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting late July-September.
IdentificationShowy Sunflower will key close to H. occidentalis, a native species that is perhaps extirpated from NC, but it differs in having narrower leaves and longer petioles than that species. The leaves tend to be arcing to drooping.
Taxonomic CommentsShowy Sunflower is thought to be of hybrid origin between H. tuberosus and H. pauciflorus.

Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE *
Global Rank[GNR]
State Status
US Status
USACE-agcp
USACE-emp
County Map - click on a county to view source of record.
Select a source
AllHerbaria
Select an occurrence type
AllCollection_non_natural