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Helianthus paradoxus
Also called Pecos Sunflower, Paradoxical Sunflower, Puzzle Sunflower
Paradox sunflower is a wild annual sunflower native to salt marshes and the edges of inland salt lakes in west Texas, New Mexico and Utah, and is threatened in the wild. It is a salt-tolerant hybrid, so it suits saline, moist, sunny sites rather than ordinary garden soil.
Helianthus paradoxus, the paradox sunflower, puzzle sunflower or Pecos sunflower, is a threatened species of sunflower found only in west Texas, Utah, and New Mexico salt marshes by the edges of inland salt lakes and salt flats.
Helianthus paradoxus formed 75,000-208,000 years ago as a hybrid of H. annuus, the common sunflower, and Helianthus petiolaris, the prairie sunflower. The hybrid is more tolerant of salt than either parent species. Helianthus paradoxus is found in areas with salinity levels range from 10 to 40 parts per thousand. Due to its ability to withstand such high levels of salt, H. paradoxus is considered to be a halophyte.
Common sunflower · Texas blueweed · Sawtooth sunflower · Maximilian sunflower · Jerusalem artichoke · Sunflower
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Helianthus paradoxus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
