Very common in dry woodlands and in roadside thickets from
Ontario to Florida, and westward to Nebraska, is the ROUGH OR
WOODLAND SUNFLOWER (H. divaricatus). Its stem, which is smooth
nearly to the summit, does not often exceed three feet in height,
though it may be less, or twice as high. Usually all its
wide-spread leaves are opposite, sessile, lance-shaped to ovate,
slightly toothed, and rough on their upper surface. Few or
solitary flower-heads, about two inches across, have from eight
to fifteen rays round a yellow disk.
The THIN-LEAVED or TEN-PETALLED SUNFLOWER (H. decapetalus), on
the contrary, chooses to dwell in moist woods and thickets,
beside streams, no farther west than Michigan and Kentucky. Its
smooth, branching stem may be anywhere from one foot to five feet
tall; its thin, membranous, sharply saw-edged leaves, from ovate
to lance-shaped, with a rounded base, roughest above and soft
underneath, are commonly alternate toward the summit, while the
lower ones, on slender petioles, are opposite.
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