Bitter Sneezeweed

Helenium amarum Origin: South-central US & northern Mexico (via Cape Charles, Virginia) Improvement status: Wild Seeds per packet: ~50 Germination tested 12/2023: 92% Life cycle: Annual Native to the south-central US and northern Mexico, but now naturalized across much of North America, bitter sneezeweed (also called yellow sneezeweed, fiveleaf sneezeweed, or yellowdicks) is a lovely little annual wildflower with some unusual medicinal uses. As the name indicates, it can make you sneeze! It's been used to clear mucus from the sinuses. According to Plants for a Future, a decoction of the plant is used in a sweat bath to treat dropsy (edema or fluid retention) and other swellings. Plant height ranges from 6 inches to over 2 feet tall. The pretty yellow flowers resemble daisies, but with a more spherical disc of tiny flowers in the center (upwards of 250 of them per half-inch disc), surrounded by 8 or 10 doubly-incised ray petals angled downward. The foliage is fine and lacy.EFN co-fo