Heliopsis gracilis
Heliopsis
pinewoods oxeye, smooth oxeye
heliopsis, héliopside, oxeye, sunflower everlasting
(from creeping rhizomes 4–10+ cm × 1–2 mm, rhizome internodes ca. 20+ mm) 1–2+, stramineous to red-brown, glabrous.
erect or trailing, branched from bases or ± throughout.
blades ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 4–8 × 1.5–3 cm, margins regularly dentate to subentire, apices acuminate, abaxial faces glabrous or inconspicuously short-hairy, adaxial faces sparingly scabrellous.
cauline; opposite;
petiolate;
blades ± 3-nerved from bases, deltate or ovate to lanceolate, bases ± cuneate to subtruncate, margins serrate or coarsely toothed, faces glabrous or hairy.
mostly 10–15 cm.
7–15 mm diam.
turbinate to hemispheric, 8–14 mm diam.
convex to conic, paleate (paleae tardily falling, yellowish, conduplicate, becoming chartaceous).
6–8(–13);
corollas golden yellow, laminae 10–22 × 4–8 mm.
[0] 5–20, pistillate, fertile;
corollas yellow to orange (laminae persistent, sessile, becoming papery).
10–20+;
corollas pale brown-yellow (lobes dull yellow), 3.5–4 mm, glabrous.
30–150+, bisexual, fertile;
corollas yellow or brown to purple, tubes much shorter than narrowly cylindric throats, lobes 5, deltate.
minutely pubescent on margins and apices, less so on abaxial faces.
persistent, 12–20 in 2–3 series (ovate or oblong, ± equal, outer more foliaceous than inner).
1–3(–5).
radiate [discoid], borne singly.
dark brown, 4–5 mm, glabrous or minutely pubescent on margins, smooth or nearly so;
pappi coroniform (each a laciniate crown plus 1–3 toothlike scales).
(brown to black-brown) subterete or obscurely 3(ray)- or 4(disc)-angled (not winged);
pappi 0, or persistent, coroniform (each a laciniate crown plus 1–3 toothlike scales).
lanceolate, apices obtuse, faces glabrous.
= 14.
Heliopsis gracilis
Heliopsis
A. Cronquist (1980) and others have alluded to intermediates between Heliopsis gracilis and H. helianthoides var. scabra in Louisiana; I have seen none. Heliopsis gracilis is distinguishable from var. scabra by the abaxially and adaxially glabrous or nearly glabrous leaf blades, smaller plant size, single or relatively few heads, and long-creeping, narrow rhizomes. Presence of H. gracilis in southeast Texas (D. S. Correll and M. C. Johnston 1970) has not been confirmed.
I am uncertain whether the type of Heliopsis laevis var. minor, collected from near New Orleans, is referable to H. gracilis, as A. Cronquist (1980) thought, or to H. helianthoides var. scabra, where it was placed by T. R. Fisher (1957) and others. If the latter, then var. minor has priority over var. scabra.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Species ca. 18 (3 in the flora).
Most species of Heliopsis are known only from Mexico.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Aerial stems 1–2+ (from creeping rhizomes 4–10+ cm × 1–2 mm, rhizome internodes ca. 20+ mm); heads 1–3(–5); rays 6–8(–13) | H. gracilis |
1. Aerial stems 1–10+ (from ± erect caudices, or from creeping rhizomes to 4 cm × 2–6 mm, rhizome internodes 2–10 mm); heads 1–15+; rays 9–18 | → 2 |
2. Leaf blades (1.5–)3–6 × 0.8–3 cm, faces sparsely pubescent to glabrescent; peduncles (6–)15–30 cm; cypselae rugulose to subtuberculate | H. parvifolia |
2. Leaf blades 6–12(–15) × 2.5–6(–12) cm, faces glabrous, pubescent, or scabrous; peduncles 9–25 cm; cypselae smooth | H. helianthoides |
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