Helenium arizonicum facts for kids

Helenium arizonicum, also known as Arizona sneezeweed, is a special plant found in North America. It is a perennial plant, which means it lives for more than two years. This plant belongs to the Sunflower Family, just like sunflowers you might know!

About Arizona Sneezeweed

Arizona sneezeweed is a unique plant that grows only in Arizona, a state in the southwestern United States. You can find it in just four counties there: Apache, Navajo, Gila, and Coconino. This makes it a very special plant because it doesn't grow anywhere else in the world!

What Arizona Sneezeweed Looks Like

The Arizona sneezeweed is a type of herb that can grow up to 70 centimeters (about 28 inches) tall. That's almost as tall as a bicycle! Each plant can have many flower heads, sometimes as many as 25. These flower heads grow in groups on branching stems.

The flower heads are shaped like a ball or an egg. They are almost completely covered with tiny flowers called disc florets. There can be up to 700 of these tiny disc florets on one flower head! Each disc floret is yellow at the bottom and purple at the top.

Around the edge of the flower head, there are also 12 to 18 larger, petal-like flowers called ray florets. These ray florets are usually yellow, and sometimes they have cool purple stripes.

Where Arizona Sneezeweed Grows

This plant likes to grow in wet places, especially along the edges of watery areas inside pine forests. It needs a lot of moisture to thrive.