Helenium bigelovii facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Helenium bigelovii |
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Helenieae
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Helenium
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H. bigelovii
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| Helenium bigelovii A. Gray 1857
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Helenium bigelovii is a cool North American plant often called Bigelow's sneezeweed. It's a type of perennial plant, which means it lives for more than two years. This plant belongs to the Sunflower Family, just like sunflowers and daisies!
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What is Bigelow's Sneezeweed?
Bigelow's sneezeweed is a wild plant that grows in North America. It's known for its bright yellow flowers. People sometimes grow special types of this plant, called cultivars, in their gardens because they look so pretty. These garden plants are called ornamentals.
Where Does It Grow?
This plant loves wet places! You can find it in meadows, marshes, and along the sides of streams. It grows in the mountains and foothills of California and Oregon. Look for it at high places, from about 3,000 feet up to 10,000 feet high. Some of the mountain ranges where it lives include the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada.
What Does It Look Like?
Bigelow's sneezeweed is a type of herb. It can grow quite tall, sometimes up to 130 centimeters (about 4 feet) high. One plant can have many flower heads, sometimes as many as 20!
Each flower head looks like a small sunflower. It has 14 to 20 yellow "petals" around the edge. These are called ray florets. They bend backwards and have small teeth at their tips. In the middle of the flower head, there can be up to 800 tiny flowers called disc florets. These disc florets start out yellow, but they turn brown as they get older.
Who Was J.M. Bigelow?
The plant Helenium bigelovii is named after a person! His name was J.M. Bigelow. He was a plant collector who explored and gathered plants in the 1850s. He was part of a group called the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey. This survey helped map the border between the two countries.
