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.
Helianthus pauciflorus, called the stiff sunflower, is a North American plant species in the sunflower family. It is widespread across the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Lakes region, and naturalized in scattered locations in the eastern United States and in much of southern Canada.
Helianthus maximiliani is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name Maximilian sunflower.
Helianthus occidentalis, the fewleaf sunflower or western sunflower, is a species of sunflower native to the Eastern and Central United States. It grows mostly in the Great Lakes Region and in the Ozarks, with additional populations scattered as far as Massachusetts, Texas, and the Florida Panhandle.
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.
Helianthus arizonensis is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name Arizona sunflower. It is native to the States of Arizona and New Mexico in the southwestern United States.
Helianthus atrorubens is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name purpledisc sunflower. It is native to the southeastern United States. It is found in all the coastal states from Louisiana to Virginia, plus the inland states of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Helianthus carnosus is a rare North American species of sunflower known by the common name lakeside sunflower. It is found only in the northeastern part of the state of Florida in the United States.
Helianthus floridanus is a species of sunflower known by the common name Florida sunflower. It is native to the southeastern United States, found in all the coastal states from Alabama to North Carolina, plus Louisiana.
Helianthus glaucophyllus is a species of sunflower known by the common name whiteleaf sunflower. It is native to the southeastern United States, in the southern Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, Tennessee, and South Carolina, in and near Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Helianthus heterophyllus is a species of sunflower known by the common names variableleaf sunflower and wetland sunflower. It is native to the coastal plain of the southern United States from Texas to North Carolina.
Helianthus hirsutus is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name hairy sunflower. It is widespread across south-central Canada, the eastern and central United States, and northeastern Mexico. It ranges from Ontario south to Florida, Coahuila, and Nuevo León, and west as far as Minnesota, Nebraska, and Texas.
Helianthus laciniatus is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name alkali sunflower. It is found in the southwestern United States and north-central Mexico. It is fairly common in the Chihuahuan Desert.
Helianthus laevigatus is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name smooth sunflower. It is native to the east-central and southeastern United States from Georgia to Maryland.
Helianthus mollis is a species of sunflower known by the common names ashy sunflower. It is widespread across much of the United States and Canada, primarily the Great Lakes region from Ontario south to Texas and Alabama. Additional populations are found in the states of the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Georgia, but these appear to be introduced.
Helianthus pumilus is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name little sunflower or bush sunflower. It is found in the western United States, primarily the Rocky Mountain region of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, with a few isolated populations in Utah and Idaho.
Helianthus radula is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name rayless sunflower or pineland sunflower. It is native to the southeastern United States from eastern Louisiana to South Carolina.
Helianthus resinosus is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name resindot sunflower. It is native to the southeastern United States from Mississippi to North Carolina.
Helianthus salicifolius is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name willowleaf sunflower. It is native to the central United States, primarily in the Great Plains and Ozark Plateau. There are a few reports of scattered populations in the Northeast and Midwest parts of the country, but these appear to be escapes from cultivation.
Helianthus silphioides is a North American species of sunflower known by the common names rosinweed sunflower or Ozark sunflower. It is native to the central United States, primarily in the Ozarks and the Tennessee Valley with additional populations north into Kentucky and Illinois and south as far as Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
