Plant

Sneezeweed,  Helenium autumnale
Asteraceae or Sunflower Family
 

Plant 2-6 feet tall.  Leaves lance-shaped, weakly toothed.  The leaf bases extend like winds down the sides of the stem.  Flower heads consisting of a near spherical button of disc flowers, orange to brown, with a skirt of yellow ray flowers.  The rays are wedge-shaped, broadest at tip, with 3 terminal lobes.  Blooms in late summer and autumn.

Attractive native of wet places.  Common in the wetland near the Main Street entrance.  Despite its name, it is not a cause of allergic reactions; supposedly the name comes from the impression that the flower head has just sneezed.

No other member of this family in Wildwood has a near spherical disk with a skirt of wedge-shaped rays.  The wet feet is a confirming character.
 

Flowers

Face few of flower head 

     

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