Helianthus cusickii

Cusick's sunflower

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Cusick's sunflower is a California native perennial found in eastern Klamath Ranges, Cascade Range, and Modoc Plateau in dry grassy slopes and open woodland at elevations of 1,050 to 1,300 meters. Flowering from May to July, this sunflower produces yellow ray flowers 20 to 40 millimeters long surrounding a yellow disk, with flower heads 12 to 28 millimeters in diameter. Growing 60 to 120 centimeters tall with a stout, fleshy taproot, the plant has glabrous to sparsely long-hairy stems. Its leaves are opposite or alternating toward the stem tip, with lanceolate blades 5 to 15 centimeters long, wedge-shaped at the base and featuring entire margins. The plant produces fruit 4 to 5 millimeters long with small pappus scales.

Habitat: dry grassy slopes, open woodland

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 1050-1300 m

Bioregions: e KR, CaR, MP

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.