Go to Midwest Weeds and Wildflowers Home Page
(updated November 27, 2022)
Ox-Eye, False Sunflower
Heliopsis helianthoides (L.) Sweet
Asteraceae (Aster Family)
▲ ▼ mature, flowering plants
▲ ▼ mature, flowering plants
▲ flower (head inflorescence)
Heliopsis helianthoides
(L.) Sweet; False Sunflower, Oxeye:
(Bayer
Code:
HEFHE; US Code HEHE5)
·
U.S.
native, rhizome-producing, creeping perennial
wildflower that grows 2.5-5 feet tall, with relatively unbranched, green to
tan to reddish-brown, ridged, hairy stems
·
Leaves are opposite, lanceolate, dark green, with toothed margins and a
pointed tip; leaves are rough textured above, hairy underneath; leaves have
short petioles
·
Head inflorescences are 1.5-3 inches in diameter, produced at stem tips and
are usually held upright, with 10-18 yellow to deep yellow or yellow-orange
ray florets (“petals”) that are slightly puckered (longitudinally), and have
a few notches in their tips; the 10-75 or more yellow-orange disk flowers
form a cone-like shape in the center of the head
·
Bracts below the head are in 2-3 overlapping rows, lanceolate, with pointed
tips and covered with fine hairs
·
Flowering is from late spring through mid-autumn
·
Found on prairies, pastures, right-of-ways, in opens woods
·
Can distinguish by the more upright flower heads,
and the bracts below the inflorescence that are in only 2-3 overlapping
rows, and have a shorter pointed tip, rather than the multiple rows bracts
with long, tapering pointed tips for the
perennial sunflower
(Helianthus)
species