ASTERACEAE - - Aster Family

Helenium amarum (Rafinesque) H. Rock — Bitterweed

Habitat:

Roadsides, overgrazed pastures, urban areas; apparently introduced from farther west. Now widespread in e. North America. The plant has a very bitter taste and is generally avoided by grazing animals, a point noted by Rafinesque in his original description (in 1817): "the whole plant is odoriferous and intensely bitter, it gives an abominable taste to the milk of the cows that feed on it in summer." Overgrazed areas come to be dominated by H. amarum. In areas where it is frequently mowed, H. amarum appears to evolve a genotype capable of flowering and fruiting when only a few cm tall.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].