Helianthus laciniatus
Helianthus ×laetiflorus
alkali sunflower
cheerful sunflower, hélianthe à belles fleurs, mountain sunflower
erect, usually strigose or hispid to glabrate.
erect, slightly hairy.
cauline; opposite or alternate;
sessile;
blades (green or grayish, 1- or 3-nerved) lanceolate, 5–9 × 0.5–3.5 cm, bases ± cuneate, margins entire or irregularly toothed to lobed, faces strigose to strumose, gland-dotted (adaxial sometimes glaucous).
basal and cauline; mostly opposite;
petioles 1–5 cm;
blades lanceolate to lance-ovate, 10–25 × 2–8 cm, bases cuneate, margins serrulate to serrate, abaxial faces sparsely hispid, gland-dotted.
4–13 cm.
7–14 cm.
hemispheric, 10–24 mm diam.
hemispheric, 14–18 mm diam.
14–20;
laminae ca. 8–11 mm.
15–20;
laminae 25–37 mm.
40+;
corollas 4.8–5.8 mm, lobes reddish;
anthers purplish, appendages reddish (style branches yellow).
75+;
corollas 7–7.5 mm, lobes reddish (at least at tips);
anthers dark, appendages dark to yellowish (style branches yellow).
16–21, lanceolate, 6–7.5 × 1.8–2.5 mm (often subequal), (margins ciliate) apices acute, abaxial faces hispidulous or strigose to glabrate, gland-dotted.
25–35, oblong-lanceolate, 7–12 × 3–3.5 mm (strongly unequal), apices acuminate, abaxial faces usually puberulent, gland-dotted.
1–9.
3–6.
2.7–3.5 mm, glabrate;
pappi of 2(–3) aristate scales 1.4–2.5 mm.
(seldom formed) 4–5 mm, glabrate;
pappi of 2 aristate scales 2.5–3.5 mm.
7–7.8 mm, entire or 3-toothed (apices obtuse to acute, hispid-ciliate to glabrate).
9–10 mm, entire or 3-toothed (apices reddish).
= 34.
= 102.
Helianthus laciniatus
Helianthus ×laetiflorus
Helianthus laciniatus reaches the northern extent of its range in New Mexico and Texas; it is relatively common in the Chihuahuan Desert areas of Mexico. It is similar to H. ciliaris; it usually has hairy stems as well as denser leaf indument that includes a greater number of subsessile, glandular hairs.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Helianthus ×laetiflorus is introduced in Ontario, Newfoundland, and probably in Quebec; it was excluded from British Columbia by G. W. Douglas et al. (1989–1994, vol. 1); and it was reported in New Brunswick by H. R. Hinds (2000).
Plants called Helianthus ×laetiflorus are usually interpreted to be hybrids and backcrosses of H. tuberosus and H. pauciflorus; they are widely cultivated and often escape. An alternative treatment has been to use the name H. laetiflorus for plants that are treated here as H. pauciflorus, sometimes with infraspecific taxa.
Helianthus atrorubens Lamarck 1789, not Linnaeus 1753, has been applied to plants here called H. ×laetiflorus.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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