Welcome to Catnapin's

Yellow and Orange Wildflower Gallery

Cone & Ball Shapes

Asteraceae (Compositae) - Sunflower family

Mexican Hat (Long-headed Coneflower) Ratibida columnaris

Flower head 1"-2" long with 5 droopy petals 1/2"-1" long.  Petals can be solid yellow or have dark red centers.  Leaves are very thin and stay low on plant.  Flowers are on bare stems 1-2 feet high.  The green flower spike becomes covered with mini-yellow-star flowers that turn brown.  These will bloom even in drought, but the petals and spikes are smaller.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, May 2002 & April-August 2004

(Native of Texas)

Asteraceae (Compositae) - Sunflower family

Rayless Green-thread (Hopi Tea Greenthread) Thelesperma megapotamicum

Flower head about 1/2" tall.  No ray petals.  Stick-like plant 1-3 feet tall.  Grass-like leaves at base.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, May 2004, June 2005

(Native of Texas)

see similar   Thelesperma,     Fine-Leaf Woolly-White

Similar Species

Longstalk Greenthread Thelesperma longipes

Flower head smaller and scruffier.

(Native of Texas)

Asteraceae (Compositae) - Sunflower family

Pretty Sneezeweed Helenium elegans

Small reddish or yellowish center is 1/4" wide ball. Tiny drooping petals are yellow (sometimes with red near ball) with 3 lobes. Plant grows 3-4 feet tall next to pond in full sun. It is the stems that are interesting in this plant. They have 3 phalanges that run lengthwise. Two fold out to become a leaf. At this node the phalanges restart and sometimes a branch. The dried leaves and flower heads makes people sneeze. Cattle do not eat. If they do it is toxic.

Photos taken in Taylor County, Texas, May 2004, May 2005

(Native of Texas)

Similar Species

Bitterweed Helenium amarum

Common Sneezeweed Helenium autumnale

Yellow to dark red ball. Ray petals with 3-4 lobes come in red or yellow.

Fringed Sneezeweed Helenium drummondii

Small yellow ball. Wide spaced, drooping, triangular yellow petals with 3 lobes.

Purple Sneezeweed Helenium flexuosum

Dark purple ball. Long, drooping yellow ray flowers with 3 deep lobes.

Slimleaf Sneezeweed Helenium linifolium

Longdisk Sneezeweed Helenium quadridentatum

Yellow ball. Long, thin, pointed yellow petals. Short plant with big leaves

Smallhead Sneezeweed Helenium microcephalum

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