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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE SUNFLOWER FAMILY | |||||||||
| The sunflowers are found around the
globe in many different places, from temperate climates, like in Saskatchewan,
to mountains or in dry regions. The sunflower family is very large and contains
about 19,000 species! As you can imagine, the plants in this family can
look very different from one another. The sunflowers can be shrubs or herbs,
with many different leaf shapes and flower colours. One thing that is common
to all sunflowers is the type of flower arrangement. In this family, there
are many flowers grouped together into a head, like the one you see on a
daisy. It looks like one flower from a distance, but when you get close
you will see that it is actually made up of many, small flowers. The head
may have ray flowers on the outside and disc flowers on the inside, or only
one of the two kinds. Many of the seeds, like the dandelion, have a fluffy
structure attached to the seed. This is called the pappus and helps the
seeds to spread in the wind. You probably know a lot of plants in the sunflower family. Sunflowers can be plants you eat or plants that you may grow in the yard. For example, did you know that lettuce is from the sunflower family? So are the marigolds in the garden! Maybe you have heard of Echinacea? It is a plant in the sunflower family that is used to make medicine. Some of the sunflowers are also weeds, like the dandelion. |
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| FALL SNEEZEWEED | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Helenium autumnale var. grandiflorum | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Fall sneezeweed is 30 to 120 cm tall with fibrous roots. This plant is hairless or nearly so. The stem is branched near the top and is winged at the base of the leaves. The leaves are arranged alternately on the stem and do not have a leaf stalk. The leaves are dotted with tiny glands. There are several heads in a leafy cluster. The bracts and ray flowers point downwards when the flower is mature. The ray flowers are between 1.5 and 2.5 cm long. The ray and the disc flowers are yellow. The fruits are about 1.4 mm long with a pappus of scales. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Fall sneezeweed grows in thickets, meadows, and shores. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is found in a wide range in the province, from Ile-a-la-Crosse to the Souris River Valley. It is found in the Moist Mixed Grassland, Mid-Boreal Upland, and Churchill River Upland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| There is no information on why this plant is vulnerable; however, it is likely that it is at risk because it has not been recorded frequently in Saskatchewan. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY FALL SNEEZEWEED | |||||||||
| * Are the ray and disc flowers yellow? * Do the ray flowers and bracts point towards the ground? * Are the ray flowers between 1.5 and 2.5 cm long? * Did you find it in a thicket, meadow or shore in central to southeastern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found fall sneezeweed! | |||||||||
