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.
Echinacea tennesseensis, also known as the Tennessee coneflower or Tennessee purple coneflower, is a flowering plant in the sunflower family, endemic to the cedar glades of the central portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee.
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.
Helianthus bolanderi is a species of sunflower known by the common names Bolander's sunflower and serpentine sunflower. It is native to California and Oregon, where it grows mainly in mountainous areas, often in serpentine soils. It has been found from southwestern Oregon as well as in northern and central California as far south as Santa Cruz County, with reports of a few isolated populations in southern California.
Helianthus cusickii is a species of sunflower known by the common names Cusick's sunflower and turniproot sunflower. It is native to the western United States from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, northern California, and northwestern Nevada.
Helianthus maximiliani is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name Maximilian sunflower.
Helianthus petiolaris is a North American plant species in the sunflower family, commonly known as the prairie sunflower or lesser sunflower. Naturalist and botanist Thomas Nuttall was the first to describe the prairie sunflower in 1821. The word petiolaris in Latin means, “having a petiole”. The species originated in Western United States, but has since expanded east. The prairie sunflower is sometimes considered a weed.
Helianthus decapetalus, known by the common names thinleaf sunflower and thin-leaved sunflower, is a perennial forb in the sunflower family. It is native to the Eastern and Central United States and Canada, from New Brunswick west to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ontario, south as far as Georgia and Louisiana. It produces yellow composite flowers in late summer or early fall.
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.
Carphephorus corymbosus is a species of North American plants in the sunflower family. They are native to the southeastern United States in the States of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Helianthus argophyllus is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name silverleaf sunflower. It is native to the coastal regions of the US state of Texas, and naturalized in other places.
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 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 porteri is a species of sunflower known by the common names Porter's sunflower, Stone Mountain daisy and Confederate daisy. It is native to the southeastern United States, such as Alabama and Georgia, but has been introduced to granite outcrop areas in North Carolina where it is aggressively weedy.
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 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.
Helianthus simulans is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name muck sunflower. It is native to the southeastern and south-central United States, from eastern Texas to the Carolinas. There are some suggestions that the populations in the eastern half of that range might represent naturalizations.
Helianthus smithii is a rare North American species of sunflower known by the common name Smith's sunflower. It is native to the southeastern United States, in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia.
