Wildflower (forb) · Asteraceae
Common sneezeweed
Helenium autumnale · includes its varieties and subspecies
Common sneezeweed is recorded as native to 42 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,156 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Common sneezeweed at a glance
- Native in
- 1,156 counties, across 42 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 4.9 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Common sneezeweed is recorded as native to 42 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,156 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,156 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 14 counties
- Arizona 4 counties
- Arkansas 25 counties
- California 4 counties
- Colorado 5 counties
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 9 counties
- Georgia 25 counties
- Idaho 20 counties
- Illinois 82 counties
- Indiana 73 counties
- Iowa 22 counties
- Kansas 24 counties
- Kentucky 54 counties
- Louisiana 11 counties
- Massachusetts 6 counties
- Michigan 35 counties
- Minnesota 67 counties
- Mississippi 9 counties
- Missouri 66 counties
- Montana 10 counties
- Nebraska 31 counties
- Nevada 4 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New Mexico 7 counties
- New York 41 counties
- North Carolina 63 counties
- North Dakota 21 counties
- Ohio 75 counties
- Oklahoma 5 counties
- Oregon 9 counties
- Pennsylvania 57 counties
- South Carolina 12 counties
- Tennessee 46 counties
- Texas 9 counties
- Utah 11 counties
- Virginia 82 counties
- Washington 14 counties
- West Virginia 22 counties
- Wisconsin 59 counties
- Wyoming 4 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 4.9 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 10 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Fall
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- Severe
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Asteraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- HEAU
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Helenium autumnale (PLANTS symbol HEAU), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources