Index- plants in this Family
Asteraceae / Aster
Naked Stemmed Sunflower (Helianthus occidentalis)
Naked Stemmed Sunflower is also known as Fewleaf Sunflower which is the official vernacular.

Plant Type: This is a herbaceous plant, it is a perennial which can reach 150cm in height (59inches).
Leaves: The leaves are alternate. Leaves can reach 15cm in length (6inches). Each leaf is entire or slightly toothed, generally ovate with most leaves near the base and petioled, stem leaves much smaller without petiole.
Flowers: The flowers have numerous parts and are up to 7.5cm wide (3 inches). They are yellow. Blooms first appear in mid summer and continue into early fall. The disk is convex, yellow. Rays ten to fifteen. The involucre bracts ciliate.
Habitat: Well drained (sandy) open areas.
Range: Scattered locations from Florida to Texas north into Canada.

      Color Photo     More Info      Classification


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© Daniel Reed

This unusuall sunflower is fairly uncommon.

Similar Species: Leopard's Bane (Arnica acaulis) is very similar in habit. The flowers are smaller and the petals have toothed tips. Other Sunflowers (Helianthus) with similar habit have dark disk flowers.



See the links below this image for other images. (2)
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OTHER IMAGES
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Naked Stemmed Sunflower (Helianthus occidentalis) wide view  © Daniel Reed
Naked Stemmed Sunflower (Helianthus occidentalis) - close view of lower leaves  © Daniel Reed

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More Info:  
The Search below may provide more information about this species. Some of URLs may have been used as a source for this page not otherwise cited. Most of the information not cited comes from multiple sources that can be found in the Books page. The USDA plant links are provided by: USDA, NRCS 1999. The PLANTS database (http://plants.usda.gov/). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA. You can check species names at ITIS Advanced Search to see if they meet the current ITIS taxonomic criteria.
 

By: Newcomb, Lawrence and Illustrated by Morrison, Gordon. 1977, Little, Brown and Company, ISBN:0-316-60442-9

One of the best general guides to wildflowers of the North Eastern and North Central United States. Newcomb's key is an excellent, simple method for identifying plants. Newcomb has drawings for almost every plant mentioned that are excellent aids to identifying the species. Though only the more common plants are covered this is often the first book I pick up when trying to identify a wildflower.


Wildflo wers of Tennessee the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians
By: Dennis Horn and Tavia Cathcart and Thomas E. Hemmerly and David Duhl. , ISBN:1551054280

This is perhaps the best of many field guides covering this region. Featuring 446 excellent color photographs (located with the text) and mentioning as similar to those illustrated are another 800 or so species for a total coverage of over 1,200 species. The start of each family section includes line drawings of some of the species showing important features. The text includes the usual description, bloom season, range, habitat and additionally includes information such as medical uses and lore and how the species was named. This is the official field guide of the Tennessee Native Plant Society.



Classification:  
Kingdom
Plantae
Plants
|Division
Magnoliophyta
Angiosperms / Flowering Plants
|Class
Magnoliopsida
Dicots / Two Seed Leaves
|Subclass
Asteridae
Aster
||Family
Asteraceae
Aster
|Subfamily

|Tribe

|Genus
Helianthus
Sunflower

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www.2bnTheWild.com - Wildflowers of the Southeastern United States, Page updated on 8/19/2001 4:45:04 PM.