Stiff sunflower

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Stiff sunflower leaves

Stiff sunflower florets

Stiff sunflower leaf

Stiff sunflower habit

Stiff sunflower

Stiff sunflower

Stiff sunflower

Stiff sunflower involucral bracts

Stiff sunflower florets

Stiff sunflower

Stiff sunflower leaf

Stiff sunflower head

Stiff sunflower leaf

Stiff sunflower habit

Stiff sunflower leaf

Stiff sunflower leaves

Stiff sunflower heads

Stiff sunflower leaves

Stiff sunflower

Stiff sunflower

Morphology

Stem

Erect, simple or sparsely branched above, green or often reddish, rough-hairy.

Leaves

Variable, widely separated, mostly opposite, stalked below, nearly sessile above, ovate to narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 2 to 12 inches long, 1 to 2.5 inches wide, thick, rough, leathery, gray-green; margins toothed to nearly entire; tips pointed; often folded lengthwise; uppermost leaves bract-like and sometimes alternate.

Inflorescence

Heads, solitary or several, long-stalked, terminal, 2.5 to 4 inches wide; bracts elliptic to ovate, conspicuously overlapping in several series, pressed tightly against disk, glabrous, margins fringed with stiff hairs; tips pointed to blunt.

Flower

Ray florets 10-25, to 1.5 inch long, yellow; disk florets numerous, corollas purplish brown to sometimes yellow with reddish lobes.

Fruit

Achenes, about 1/4 inch long, mostly glabrous, tipped with 2 conspicuous bristles and smaller secondary scales, enclosing small seed.

Ecology

Habitat

Dry or drying prairies, roadsides, and open woods, most abundant in sandy soils.

Distribution

East 1/2 of Kansas.

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.