Schweinitz's Sunflower

Helianthus schweinitzii (hee-lee-AN-thus shwei-NIT-zee-eye)

Family: Asteraceae Native Herbaceous (3-15 ft)

Herbaceous (3-15 ft)Native

Schweinitz's sunflower is a native, rhizomatous, herbaceous perennial wildflower in the daisy family (Asteraceae) found in the southern Piedmont of North Carolina and the northern Piedmont of South Carolina. Its native habitat consists of poor agricultural soils of clay or rocky fragments, as well as upland woods, thickets, old pastures, along roadsides, or powerline clearings. This plant grows 3 to 12 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide, with purplish, rough, and hairy stems. The leaves are bright green, lance-shaped, stiff, rough, with curled margins. The flower heads measure only 0.2 to 0.6 inches in diameter, making them much smaller than most other sunflowers. The petal rays are bright yellow, and the center floral disks are golden yellow. Blooming occurs from late August through October. The specific epithet schweinitzii honors Lewis David von Schweinitz, a Moravian clergyman, botanist, and mycologist from Salem, North Carolina. He searched for new species, studied local flora, and wrote several books about fungi in North Carolina in the early 1800s. This plant prefers full sun to partial shade and medium, moist, well-drained soil. It is drought-tolerant and tolerant of sandy, clay, and dry soils. It is winter hardy in zones 7 through 9. Once endemic to North Carolina and South Carolina, it is now listed as an endangered species by federal and North Carolina state agencies. This plant is one of the rarer sunflower species in the United States and is not recommended for home landscapes. This plant has decreased in population due to threats of fires, grazing animals, roadside maintenance, and land development. There is vigorous effort to manage this plant's habitat by transplanting and restricting mowing in some areas of North Carolina, and to prevent further loss of this species. The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program currently lists this plant as vulnerable. Quick ID Hints: Purplish, rough, hairy stems Tiny bright yellow flowerheads Narrow, green, lanceolate leaves with revolute margins Diseases, Insect Pests, and Other Plant Problems: No known diseases or insect pests. More information on Helianthus .

Source: NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox ↗ NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, 56 attributes.

How it fits the guild

Guild layer 4 - Herbaceous (3-15 ft) Optimal soil pH Alkaline (>8.0); Neutral (6.0-8.0)

See companions & conflicts ↓

Companions & Conflicts

Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.

No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.

Also noted by NC State

Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.

Fills a similar niche Baptisia tinctoria Helianthus atrorubens Rudbeckia triloba

Full plant profile

Growing Conditions

Plant type: Herbaceous Perennial; Native Plant; Wildflower
Life cycle: Perennial
USDA zones: 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b
Light: Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) | Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
Soil texture: Clay; High Organic Matter; Loam (Silt); Sand
Soil pH: Alkaline (>8.0); Neutral (6.0-8.0)
Soil drainage: Good Drainage | Moist | Occasionally Dry
Available space: 3 feet-6 feet
NC region: Piedmont
Mature size: Height: 3 ft. 0 in. - 12 ft. 0 in. | Width: 2 ft. 0 in. - 3 ft. 0 in.
Growth rate: Rapid
Maintenance: Low
Canopy layer: 4 - Herbaceous (3-15 ft)

Form & Appearance

Habit / form: Erect
Texture: Coarse
Leaf color: Green
Leaf type: Simple
Leaf arrangement: Opposite
Leaf shape: Lanceolate
Leaf margin: Entire
Leaf feel: Rough
Leaf size: > 6 inches long, < 1 inch wide
Hairs present: Yes
Leaf detail: The leaves are green, usually opposite, lanceolate, with smooth margins, measuring 2 to 7 inches long and 0.4 to 0.8 inches wide. The margins tend to curl under. The leaf texture is thick, stiff, and rough. There are spiny hairs on the upper surface, and soft white hairs on the underside. Leaves are arranged in pairs on the lower part of the stem but singly on the upper part. They grow from the stem at right angles, and leaf tips tend to droop.
Flower color: Gold/Yellow
Flower value: Showy
Flower form: Head
Flower shape: Radial
Flower detail: The flowers have bright yellow petal rays and golden yellow center florets. The flower heads only measure 0.2 to 0.6 inches in diameter, with 8 to 11 petal rays per bloom. Blooms from August to October.
Bloom time: Fall; Summer
Fruit color: Brown/Copper
Fruit size: < 1 inch long, < 1 inch wide
Fruit detail: The fruit is a smooth, brown cypsela, measuring 0.13 to 0.14 inches long, with a bristle-haired pappus. Displays from September to November. Schweinitz's sunflower spreads through seed dispersal without a dormant period.
Stem color: Purple/Lavender
Stem detail: Stems are purple and usually solitary, branching only at or above mid-stem. The upper third bears secondary branches at 45-degree angles.

Wildlife & Ecology

Native status: Native
Origin: North Carolina to South Carolina
Distribution: Southern Piedmon of North Carolina and Northern Piedmont of South Carolina
Wildlife value: Flowers provide nectar to pollinators from July until the first frost. This is a larval host plant that supports Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis). The Silvery Checkerspot has at least 1-2 broods in the north from June-July in the deep south and Texas, they have as many as 3-4 broods from May through September.
Attracts: Butterflies; Pollinators; Small Mammals; Songbirds
Play value: Attractive Flowers; Attracts Pollinators; Colorful; Wildlife Larval Host

Food & Medicine

Harvest time: Fall

Landscape Use

Landscape location: Naturalized Area; Woodland
Garden tags: #native perennial #NC native #disturbed areas #food source nectar #food source pollen #food source herbage #food source fall #Audubon #silvery checkerspot butterfly #butterfly friendly #larval host plant #food source hard mast fruit #rare #endangered #pollinator plant #wildlife friendly #woodland #HS303 #full sun #partial shade #drought tolerant #dry soils tolerant #native wildflower #wildflower

Problems & Resistance

Resistant to: Dry Soil; Poor Soil
Propagation: Division; Seed

Planted at Hunnicutt

Nobody’s planted this one yet.

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