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:
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Section 6 » Family Asteraceae
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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.

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