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• All other flowering non-woody plants
• Daisies, goldenrods, and other aster family plants
• Helianthus decapetalus

Helianthus decapetalus — thin-leaved sunflower

Facts

The seeds of thin-leaved sunflower are eaten by gamebirds and songbirds. Muskrats eat the leaves and stems and use the stems in the construction of their lodges. The Meskwaki applied a poultice of the macerated roots to persistent sores.

Habitat

Floodplain (river or stream floodplains), forest edges, forests

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Bases of bract appendages

  NA

  Bract margins

  there are fine hairs along the bract margins

  Bract outer side hairs

  • the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces
  • the bracts are not hairy on their outer surfaces

  Bract shape

  • the main bracts are lanceolate (widest above the base, then taper narrowly towards the tip)
  • the main bracts are linear (long and very narrow)

  Bract tip shape

  the tips of the bracts are acuminate (tapered to a narrow point)

  Bract width

  2–3

  Disk flower color

  yellow

  Disk flower lobe number

  5

  Disk flower number

  21-50

  Disk flower reproductive parts

  the disk flower has both pollen- and seed-producing parts

  Disk width

  10–20 mm

  Flower head number

  • each flowering stem has four or more flower heads on it
  • each flowering stem has only one to three flower heads on it

  Flower head outer flowers

  at the outer edge of the flower head, each flower has a single enlarged lobe or strap

  Flower head platform

  the base has papery scales on it

  Flower head shape

  the flower head is hemispherical (like the bottom half of a sphere)

  Flower type in flower heads

  the flower head has tubular disk flowers in the center and ray flowers, these often strap-shaped, around the periphery

  Inflorescence branching (Solidago)

  NA

  Number of bracts at flower head base

  20–25

  Ovary cross-section

  the ovary is compressed (flattened)

  Peduncle length

  20–120 mm

  Ray flower color

  yellow

  Ray flower reproductive parts

  there are neither carpels nor stamens in the ray flowers

  Ray flowers

  • 11-15
  • 6-10

  Ray length

  20–25 mm

  Width of flower head base

  12–25 mm

• Fruits or seeds

  Number of pappus parts

  2

  Ovary length in developed fruit

  3.5–5 mm

  Seed hair tuft bases

  NA

  Seed hair tuft color

  NA

  Seed hair tuft details

  NA

  Seed hair tuft length

  3–4 mm

  Seed hair tuft tips

  NA

  Seed hairs uniform

  NA

  Seed tuft scale number

  2

  Seed tuft type

  the pappus is made of flat scales that are not split or frayed at the tips

  Top of disk flower ovary

  NA

  Tuft or plume on fruit

  there is no plume, or the plume is made up of scales, awns, a crown, or a rim

• Glands or sap

  Leaf blade glands

  the leaf blades have glandular (translucent) dots or scales

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant has one or more free-standing stems

  Plant lifespan

  the plant is perennial, it shows evidence of previous year's leaves, stems or stem bases

  Spines on plant

  the plant has no spines

  Underground organs

  the plant has a rhizome (a horizontal underground stem with roots growing from it)

• Leaves

  Final leaf segment length (compound lvs only)

  0 mm

  Final leaf segment width (compound lvs only)

  0 mm

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  the underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy

  Leaf arrangement

  • alternate: there is one leaf per node along the stem
  • opposite: there are two leaves per node along the stem

  Leaf blade base

  the leaf has a distinct petiole

  Leaf blade base shape

  • the base of the leaf blade is cuneate (wedge-shaped, tapers to the base with relatively straight, converging edges), or narrow
  • the base of the leaf blade is rounded
  • the base of the leaf blade is truncate (ends abruptly in a more or less straight line as though cut off)

  Leaf blade bloom

  the underside of the leaf has no noticeable bloom

  Leaf blade edges

  the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade length

  70–210 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is lanceolate (lance-shaped; widest below the middle and tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)

  Leaf blade surface colors

  there is no noticeable color variation on the upper surface of the leaf

  Leaf blade tip

  • the tip of the leaf blade is acuminate (tapers to a long, thin point)
  • the tip of the leaf blade is rounded, with no point

  Leaf blade veins

  the leaf blade has three main veins running from the base towards the tip

  Leaf blade width

  40–100 mm

  Leaf disposition

  the leaves are nearly similar in size, prominence of teeth, and length of stalks throughout the stem

  Leaf spines

  there are no spines on the leaf edges

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf stalk length

  15–60 mm

  Leaf tip extension

  NA

  Leaf type

  leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Leaflet number

  0

  Specific leaf type

  the leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • edges of forests
  • forests
  • river or stream floodplains

• Scent

  Plant odor

  the plant does not have much of an odor

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem cross-section

  the flowering stem is circular, or with lots of small angles

  Leaves on stem

  there is at least one full leaf above the base of the flowering stem

  Stem bloom

  there is no powdery or waxy film on the stem

  Stem internode hair direction

  NA

  Stem internode hair length

  0 mm

  Stem internode hair type

  the stem has no hairs between the nodes

  Stem internode hairs

  the stem has no hairs between the nodes

  Stem wings

  the stem does not have wings on it

Wetland status

Usually occurs in non-wetlands, but occasionally in wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: FACU)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae