Divergent sunflower

Helianthus divaricatus, the woodland or divergent sunflower, is a herbaceous perennial in the Asteraceae growing 0.6–1.5 m tall from slender, spreading rhizomes that form colonies. The smooth, often glaucous stems are usually unbranched below the inflorescence. Leaves are mostly opposite, sessile to very short-petioled, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 7–15 cm long, with three prominent veins from near the rounded to truncate base, a tapered tip, and a slightly toothed to nearly entire margin; the upper surface is rough and the lower surface paler. Flower heads are borne singly or in loose corymbs at the stem apex, each 4–7 cm across with 8–15 bright yellow ray florets surrounding numerous yellow disc florets. Phyllaries are lanceolate, loose, and often somewhat spreading. The fruit is a flattened, glabrous achene. It occupies dry, open woods and clearings across eastern North America, flowering mid- to late summer.