Stems stout and branching, 2 to 6 feet high, aromatic and resinous, from a perennial root. Leaves firm, oblong-lanceolate, narrowed to a sessile base and pointed at the apex, usually toothed, 2 to 5 inches long. one-fourth to 2 inches wide, the bases of the leaves decurrent on the stems, and making the stem appear wing-angled. Inflorescence composed of yellow heads of flowers on long peduncles; each head with ten to eighteen drooping ray flowers, wedge-shaped and three-notched at the apex, surrounding the globose, darker yellow disk.

In swamps, wet meadows and along streams, Quebec to Manitoba and Oregon, south to Florida and Louisiana. Flowering from August to October. The far western form is sometimes regarded as a distinct species.

Memoir 15 N. Y. State Museum

Plate 261

A. sneezeweed; false or swamp sunflower - Helenium autumanale