Helianthus debilis

Last updated

Helianthus debilis
Tournesol de la Plage (5954050557).jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Helianthus
Species:
H. debilis
Binomial name
Helianthus debilis
Synonyms [1]
  • Helianthus cucumerifoliusTorr. & A.Gray, syn of subsp. cucumerifolius
  • Helianthus vestitusE.Watson, syn of subsp. vestitus

Helianthus debilis is a species of sunflower known by the common names cucumberleaf sunflower, beach sunflower, weak sunflower, [2] and East Coast dune sunflower. [3] It is native to the United States, where it can be found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. [4] It is known elsewhere as an introduced species, such as South Africa, Australia, Taiwan, Slovakia, and Cuba. [5]

This species may be an annual or perennial herb. [4] It is usually perennial but it may last only one season in climates where freezes occur. [6] It can reach a height of 2 meters. The stem grows from a taproot and may grow erect or decumbent. [4] It can also spread along the ground, becoming a dense groundcover. [6] The leaves are usually arranged alternately and are variable in shape and size. The largest are up to 14 centimeters long by 13 wide. The showy inflorescence is a single flower head or an array of two or three heads. There are up to 30 lance-shaped phyllaries each up to 1.7 centimeters long. There are up to 20 [4] or 21 [7] ray florets, each up to 2.3 centimeters long. They are usually yellow in the wild, but cultivars have been bred to bear whitish, [7] reddish, or orange florets. [6] The center of the head is filled with many red, yellowish, [4] or purplish [7] disc florets. The fruit, a cypsela, is roughly 2 or 3 millimeters long. [4]

There are several subspecies. At one point there were eight. [8] Five are currently recognized. [1] [4]

This species grows in several types of coastal habitat, sometimes directly on the beach. It tolerates a moderately saline environment, but not an excessive amount of salt spray or inundation. [20] It is highly drought-tolerant and it will grow in low-nutrient and poor soils, such as alkaline and acidic soils and sand. [6] [7] The plant attracts butterflies and birds feed on the fruits. [6]

This plant is used as a garden flower. It is also good for landscaping, especially in poor, dry soils. It is planted on beaches, where it forms a sand-binding groundcover that prevents erosion and stabilizes dunes. [21] It requires supplemental watering only rarely, if ever. It may get "ratty-looking" after the showy flowers have withered. [20] Available cultivars include 'Italian White', [7] 'Flora Sun', [21] 'Dazzler', 'Excelsior', and 'Orion'. [6]

Dune Sunflowers growing in Miami Beach sand dunes (South Beach)

Related Research Articles

<i>Pinus contorta</i> Species of plant

Pinus contorta, with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, but is rare in lowland rain forests. Like all pines, it is an evergreen conifer.

<i>Helianthus</i> Genus of flowering plants, the sunflowers

Helianthus is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae. Except for three South American species, the species of Helianthus are native to North America and Central America. The common names "sunflower" and "common sunflower" typically refer to the popular annual species Helianthus annuus, whose round flower heads in combination with the ligules look like the sun. This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke, are cultivated in temperate regions and some tropical regions as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants. The species H. annuus typically grows during the summer and into early fall, with the peak growth season being mid-summer.

<i>Crepis capillaris</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

The smooth hawksbeard, Crepis capillaris, is a species of flowering plant in the dandelion tribe within the sunflower family, native to Europe. It has become naturalized in other lands and is regarded as a weed in some places.

<i>Helianthus nuttallii</i> Species of sunflower

Helianthus nuttallii, or Nuttall's sunflower, is a species of sunflower native to northern, central, and western North America, from Newfoundland west to British Columbia, south to Missouri, New Mexico, and California.

<i>Helianthus giganteus</i> Species of sunflower

Helianthus giganteus, the giant sunflower or tall sunflower, is a species of Helianthus native to the eastern United States and eastern and central Canada, from Newfoundland west to Alberta south to Minnesota, Mississippi, and South Carolina.

<i>Sambucus racemosa <span style="font-style:normal;">subsp.</span> racemosa</i>

Sambucus racemosa subsp. racemosa is a subspecies of Sambucus racemosa, with the common names European red elder and Pacific red elderberry.

<i>Coreopsis tripteris</i> Species of flowering plant

Coreopsis tripteris is a North American species of flowering plant in the aster family, Asteraceae. It is widespread across much of eastern and central North America from the Florida Panhandle west as far as eastern Texas and north to Québec and Ontario. Its common names include tall tickseed, tall coreopsis, and Atlantic coreopsis.

<i>Helianthus microcephalus</i> Species of sunflower

Helianthus microcephalus is a perennial species of Helianthus also known as small woodland sunflower or small-wood sunflower or small-head sunflower or simply as woodland sunflower. It is a native of Northern America, and is to be found growing in open woodlands.

<i>Lathyrus vestitus</i> Species of legume

Lathyrus vestitus is a species of wild pea known by the common name Pacific pea. It is native to western North America, where it is mostly found in the forests, woodlands, and chaparral of California. The ranges of some subspecies extend into Oregon and Baja California. This is a perennial pea vine which varies in appearance across subspecies. Leaves are made up of several leaflets of various shapes up to 4 or 5 centimeters long. The leaves usually bear coiling tendrils and the stipules may be large or small. The inflorescence is a showy array of up to 15 pea flowers, sometimes densely packed together, and usually some shade of light to medium purple or white.

<i>Helianthus grosseserratus</i> Species of plant

Helianthus grosseserratus, commonly known as sawtooth sunflower or thick-tooth sunflower , is a perennial sunflower in the family Asteraceae, with a large flowering head (inflorescence).

<i>Sagittaria montevidensis</i> Species of plant

Sagittaria montevidensis is a species of flowering plant in the water-plantain family Alismataceae. Common names include giant arrowhead and California arrowhead.

<i>Erodium cygnorum</i> Species of plant

Erodium cygnorum is a species of herb native to Australia.

<i>Solidago nemoralis</i> Species of plant

Solidago nemoralis is a species of flowering plant in the aster family, Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it is widely found in Canada and the United States. Its common names include gray goldenrod, gray-stem goldenrod, old-field goldenrod, field goldenrod, prairie goldenrod, dwarf goldenrod, and dyersweed goldenrod.

<i>Malacothrix sonchoides</i> Species of flowering plant

Malacothrix sonchoides is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names sowthistle desertdandelion and yellow saucers. It is native to much of the western United States, where it grows in sandy substrates in habitat such as Joshua tree woodland, grassland, creosote bush scrub, and ephedra-blackbrush communities.

<i>Solidago houghtonii</i>

Solidago houghtonii is a rare North American species of flowering plant in the aster family known as Houghton's goldenrod. It is native to southern Ontario, Canada and the northern United States. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States and it is designated a species of special concern by Canada's Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

<i>Helianthus angustifolius</i> Species of sunflower

Helianthus angustifolius is a species of sunflower known by the common name narrowleaf sunflower or swamp sunflower. It is native to the south-central and eastern United States, found in all the coastal states from Texas to Long Island, and inland as far as Missouri. It is typically found in the coastal plain habitat, particularly in wet areas.

<i>Helianthus eggertii</i> Species of sunflower

Helianthus eggertii, known as Eggert's sunflower, is a North American species of flowering plants in the sunflower family. It is native to Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Alabama. It is best known as one of the few plants to have been delisted under the Endangered Species Act because of the species' recovery. It was described by John Kunkel Small in 1903.

<i>Hoodia officinalis</i> Species of succulent

Hoodia officinalis is a succulent plant native to Namibia and the Cape Province of South Africa. H. officinalis has two officially recognized subspecies, H. officinalis subsp. officinalis and subsp. delaetiana, which are identified mainly by their distribution. Subsp. delaetiana grows only in the Klinghardt Mountains and are larger than subsp. officinalis.

<i>Helianthus debilis <span style="font-style:normal;">subsp.</span> cucumerifolius</i> Subspecies of sunflower

Helianthus debilis subsp. cucumerifolius, or cucumberleaf dune sunflower, is a subspecies of the species Helianthus debilis in the genus Helianthus, family Asteraceae. It is native to the South Central regions of the United States and exists naturalized in every continent except Antarctica.

References

  1. 1 2 The Plant List, Helianthus debilis Nutt.
  2. ↑ "Helianthus debilis". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  3. ↑ Wunderlin, R. P. and B. F. Hansen. 2008. Helianthus debilis. Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants. Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Helianthus debilis. Flora of North America.
  5. 1 2 "Helianthus debilis subsp. cucumerifolius". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gilman, E. F. and S. Park-Brown. Helianthus debilis Beach Sunflower. Environmental Horticulture, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. 1999. Revised 2007.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Christman, S. Helianthus debilis. Floridata.com. 1999. Updated 2003.
  8. ↑ Wain, R. P. (1983). Genetic differentiation during speciation in the Helianthus debilis complex. Evolution 37(6) 1119-27.
  9. ↑ Helianthus debilis ssp. cucumerifolius. Flora of North America.
  10. ↑ "Helianthus debilis subsp. debilis". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  11. ↑ Helianthus debilis ssp. debilis. Flora of North America.
  12. ↑ "Helianthus debilis subsp. silvestris". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  13. ↑ Helianthus debilis ssp. silvestris. Flora of North America.
  14. ↑ "Helianthus debilis subsp. tardiflorus". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  15. ↑ Helianthus debilis ssp. tardiflorus. Flora of North America.
  16. ↑ Helianthus debilis ssp. tardiflorus. NatureServe.
  17. ↑ "Helianthus debilis subsp. vestitus". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  18. 1 2 Helianthus debilis ssp. vestitus. NatureServe.
  19. ↑ Helianthus debilis ssp. vestitus. Flora of North America.
  20. 1 2 Gann, G. D., et al. 2005-2013. East Coast dune sunflower Helianthus debilis. Natives For Your Neighborhood. The Institute for Regional Conservation. Delray Beach, Florida, USA.
  21. 1 2 Maura, C. and S. Sanders. Helianthus debilis ssp. debilis Plant Fact Sheet. USDA NRCS Brooksville Plant Materials Center. 2002.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.