Helenium mexicanum Kunth

Helenium mexicanum H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 4: 299. 1820
Helenium varium Schrad. Ind. Sem. Goett. 1830: 3. 1830. — Linnaea 6: Litt. 72. 1831. Helenium brachyglossum Ave-Lall.; Rach, Ind. Sem. Hort. Petrop. 1858: 38, as synonym. 1859. Heleniastrum varium Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 342. 1891.
A slender annual; stem 4-7 dm. high, glabrous, slightly winged; leaves linear, 4-6 cm. long, glabrous or sparingly pilose above; heads solitary or 2-4, long-peduncled; peduncles 5-15 cm. long; bracts subulate, 5 mm. long; ray-flowers fertile; ligules yellow, 10-14 mm. long, deeply lobed; disk 15-18 mm. broad, yellowish-brown; corollas 3 mm. long; tube very short; achenes 2 mm. long, hirsute on the ribs; squamellae ovate, 1 mm. long, acute or apiculate.
Type locality: Mexico. Distribution: Southern Mexico.

Helenium centrale Rydberg, sp. no v
A puberulent annual; stem 3-5 dm. high, puberulent as well as glandular-granulilVrou,, winged, with ascending branches; basal leaves oblanceolate, 5-10 cm. long, puberulent, entire or denticulate; stem-leaves narrowly linear-lanceolate, attenuate, strongly ascending; heads corymbose; peduncles 3-8 cm. long; involucral bracts subulate, 4 mm. long; rayflowers pistillate; ligules 4 mm. long, 3 mm. wide; disk brown, globose, about 1 cm. broad; corollas 1.5 mm. long; tube minute; achenes 1.5 mm. long, hispid on the angles; squamellae rounded-ovate, apiculate.
Type collected at Cuajiniquilapa, Dep. Santa Rosa, Guatemala, 1892, Heyde &* Lux 3403 (herb. Columbia Univ.).
Distribution: Chiapas, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.

Helenium mexicanum is a Mesoamerican perennial plant in the sunflower family, common name cabezona. It is native to Mexico and Central America, from Sonora and San Luis Potosí south as far as Costa Rica.

Helenium mexicanum is a perennial herb up to 150 cm (5 feet) tall. One can produce several yellow flower heads, each on its own thin flower stalk. Each head has an almost spherical center covered with many small disc flowers, each one yellow at the base and coffee-brown or red at the tip. There are also 1–17 yellow ray flowers around the edge.