Savanna Sneezeweed
Helenium vernale
Found in wet pine savannas and adjacent ditches. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Mississippi. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- Up to about 32 inches
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Moist to wet
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- April to May
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 9 Mississippi counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Mississippi. Shared habitat, not food. 147 animals.
- American GoldfinchCarduelis tristis
- Black-bellied Whistling-DuckDendrocygna autumnalis
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- European StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- Northern MockingbirdMimus polyglottos
- Northern WaterthrushSeiurus noveboracensis
- Red-shouldered HawkButeo lineatus
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
- Sharp-shinned HawkAccipiter striatus
- Snowy EgretEgretta thula
- Turkey VultureCathartes aura
- Yellow-breasted ChatIcteria virens
- Yellow-crowned Night-heronNyctanassa violacea
- Yellow-rumped WarblerDendroica coronata
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CootFulica americana
Who uses this plant?
6CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS
Genus host records with ranges including MS · Helenium
- Chlorochlamys chloroleucariaBlackberry Looper Moth
- Condica sutorThe Cobbler, Cobbler Groundling
- Condica vidensWhite-Dotted Groundling
- Nathalis ioleDainty Sulphur, Dwarf Yellow
- Sparganothis sulfureanaSparganothis Fruitworm Moth, Sulfur Leafroller, False Yellow-Head
- Carmenta ithacae
48BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Helenium
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
14Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Helenium
- Andrena beameri
- Calliopsis coloradensis
- Dianthidium curvatum
- Dieunomia bolliana
- Megachile inimica
- Megachile parallela
- Megachile xylocopoides
- Melissodes boltoniae
- Melissodes dentiventris
- Melissodes druriellus
Show all 14
- Melissodes illatus
- Melissodes manipularis
- Melissodes wheeleri
- Paranthidium jugatorium
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimNo records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Flower color
- Yellow
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “April to May” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Height · “Up to about 32 inches” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Full sun (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Soil · “Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
Conservation status
| Mississippi rank | S3S4 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4? |
| MS status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition
- Mississippi occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications