Helenium flexuosum Raf.

vernacular purplehead sneezeweed — species · Asteraceae

USDA: HEFL
GBIF: 5401838
Rank: species

purplehead sneezeweed (Helenium flexuosum) — Platephotograph · Lauren LeCroy MayCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae Bercht. & J. Presl
Genus: Helenium

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Introduced
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 2 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 2 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -28 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 140 min.
Precipitation: 20–60 in/yr
pH range: 4.5–7.5
Root depth: 6 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Multiple Stem
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 3.2 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Summer
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Moderate
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 2,000,000
Propagation: seed, bare root

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Medium
Graze palatability: Medium
Palatable, human: No
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 2 counties across 1 state.

Rhode Island view state ↗ 2 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/HEFL ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5401838 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z