Bitter Sneezeweed II

Note from the Author: I previously covered this plant on February 18^th 2022.

This one has to be the prettiest specimen I've ever seen.

Coming out of a crack in the cement curb, Bitter Sneezeweed is a serious annual plant.

Mixed in with the weeds and tall grass of an overgrown field is where you might find these annuals. No other plant has a flower quite like Bitter Sneezeweed.

 

 

 

Common Name: Bitter Sneezeweed

 

Other Common Names: Yellow sneezeweed, Fiveleaf sneezeweed and Yellowdicks.

 

Botanical Family: Asteraceae (The Aster Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Helenium amarum

 

Description & Habitat: Typically you will find this plant along the roadside or in fields, by the edge of pastures and it pops up a lot in areas with very sandy soil. Bitter Sneezeweed has an upright habit and forms a sort of canopy as it takes on an overall ‘V’ shape when seen from the side. The bright golden yellow flowers are roughly shaped like a shuttlecock from badminton. The petals tend to arch downwards towards the ground while the florets in the center of the flower form a cone. The foliage of this perennial and native plant has a camphor-chamomile kind of scent.

 

Special Toxicity Note: This plant contains Helenalin which is a Sesquiterpene lactone and is the primary toxic compound in the plant which serves as its defense against grazing animals which also makes it squirrel and deer resistant. It also contains Dugaldin and phenol which makes it toxic to cats too so definitely not for use as a house plant but it thankfully is a bitter tasting which can discourage animal and small child consumption.

 

When & What to Harvest: Generally for medicinal use you can harvest the mature flowers, stems and foliage. The leaves when used in an infusion are said to be a laxative. Infusions using only the stems are supposedly used in a wash to help treat fevers. The mature flower heads when dried were used to treat Colds and headaches while if made into a tea they were said to treat worms in the intestine. Lastly and perhaps most promising is that the plant contains Helenalin a compound that has shown great promise in anti-tumor use.

 

Related Plants: Common Sneezeweed (H. autumnale), Purple-headed Sneezeweed (H. flexuosum).

 

Recipe:  (None, this plant is not for culinary use)

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/helenium-autumnale/

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/bitter-sneezeweed

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

Fresh Produce:

Blueberries, Rabbiteye

Figs, Magnolia

Peppers, Banana Drop Hybrid

 

Summer Vegetables:

Nightshade Greens, Gbognome

Nightshade Greens, West African Njama

Okra, Baby Bubba

Okra, Iraqi Bamia

Pepper, Ghost

Pepper, Serrano

Pepper, Hungarian Wax Banana

Pepper, Bull’s Horn

Pepper, Mad Hatter

Pepper, Purple Bell

Potato, Adirondak (Purple skin with blue-purple flesh)

Spinach, Egyptian

 

Herbs:

Basil, Holy

Basil, Sweet Genovese

Chives

Yarrow, Parker’s Gold

 

 

Flowers:

Flowering Tobacco

Hibiscus, Luna Red

Marigolds

 

Plants Coming Soon:

Green-Fruit Nightshade Greens

Rainbow Quinoa

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Stevia

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is June 28^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

Bitter Sneezeweed, a elegant weed.

 

Welcome back to the Lost In the Farmer’s Market Blog. At the current time we have a long-running series that covers useful, edible and medicinal ‘weeds’ that you can commonly find in the southeastern states of the United States. While our survey area is just within Cumberland County North Carolina it’ is possible you can find some of these forage plants in other places. This series was begun to give folks a detailed look into the resources they might not have known were right there in their lawn. Given that the world situation is not that great and there are already shortages of critical grains and fertilizers forage foods may be the most useful answer on a local level. LITFM will keep this series going as long as we keep finding wild resources to photograph and write about. If you have any questions or comments about our articles please leave a comment either here or on our YouTube Channel (The link is at the end of the article). Thank you for reading, and remember just one thing, you can’t eat lawn grass.

 

 

 

This lovely specimen was found at the Fayetteville border.

This small specimen demonstrates that plants less than a inch tall still can bloom. Bitter Sneezeweed only reproduces by seed which makes this a clever ability.

Practically hidden amongst other lawn weeds Bitter Sneezeweed can go unnoticed.

This specimen was the largest I spotted while snapping photos. It's a pretty weed that's for sure.

 

 

Common Name: Bitter Sneezeweed

 

Other Common Names: Yellow Sneezeweed, Fiveleaf Sneezeweed and, Yellowdicks (LOL!).

 

Botanical Family: Asteraceae (The Daisy Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Helenium amarum var. amarum

 

Season to Harvest:  Cut flowers in summer.

 

Habitat:  Bitter Sneezeweed is a native plant that originated in the south-central united states, specifically Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. It is also native to parts of Northern Mexico but has spread to the southeastern United States and other places as an introduced species. Bitter Sneeze weed is a fairly common and opportunistic plant that appears readily in open fields, by the roadside, and in waste places, it also tends to appear in places with sandy soils. The plant’s preference for sandy soils means that you might find it anywhere in the Sandhills region of North Carolina.

 

Parts to Harvest: None, this plant is inedible. It can poison livestock.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None.

 

Related Edible Species: Helenium amarum var. badium

 

Description: Bitter Sneezeweed is a warm-season annual with an upright growth pattern. If not in an area with regular foot traffic or if it is not mowed it will become bushy.  Bitter Sneezeweed can get as tall as 28”. The leaves on this plant are narrow and thread like and it bears a medium green color and a bit of a sparkle as if the plant’s leaves are succulent. Additionally despite being an annual Bitter Sneezeweed has a strong taproot that can go fairly deep allowing it to fin moisture that might otherwise be unavailable to other plants.

The plant freely branches and its stems may have a purplish color to them. Overall this plant looks a lot like Chamomile and its foliage might smell a bit like chamomile but, its flowers are a solid golden yellow color and the two plants are not directly related.

 

Recipe:  No recipe this plant is inedible and if cultivated it is a pure native ornamental and pollinator attraction.

 

 

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 8:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

 

Fresh Produce:

Garlic Bulbs

Soup Kit – Parsnip

Soup Kit – Turnip

 

 

Garden Stuff: ($2.00) ON SALE!

Cauliflower – Snow Crown

Cauliflower – Flame Star

Celery - Tango

Collards – Green Glaze

Kale – Ragged Jack

Mustard – Japanese Red Giant

 

 

Coming Soon:

House Plants (November the 25^th!)

 

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

 

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (2): A Intermission, Harvesting Okra seed.

 

Meetings still going on! We now meet at LeClair’s General Store on the First and Third Thursday of every month. Our next meeting is on November 17^th  between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.