Helenium autumnale Seeds | Sneezeweed
LATIN NAME: Helenium autumnale
COMMON NAME: Sneezeweed
Plant Profile
Sneezeweed is a clump-forming perennial of damp meadows and stream banks in eastern North America, growing one to one and a half metres tall on stiff, winged stems. The flower heads are two to four centimetres across, with a prominent, raised, yellow-green centre and reflexed rays in yellow, orange or bronze, and they open from August into October.
The leaves are lance-shaped and arranged along the stem, and the whole plant has a slightly rough texture. The common name comes from the dried leaves and flowers, which were once ground and used as a snuff to provoke sneezing. It is a plant of wet ground in the wild, and it needs moisture in the garden to do well. Moerheim Beauty and Rubinzwerg are familiar cultivars, both shorter and more compact than the species.
Science & Biotechnology
Helenium autumnale contains a group of sesquiterpene lactones, among them helenalin, that are strongly irritant and cytotoxic. Helenalin inhibits the NF-kB pathway and has been studied for anti-inflammatory activity, but it is also the reason the plant is toxic: cattle that graze it develop a condition called spewing sickness, with vomiting, weakness and sometimes death, and the poisoning is cumulative.
The plant was never a safe herbal remedy, and its former use as a snuff was irritant rather than medicinal. The genus is named for Helen of Troy, according to Linnaeus, who is said to have sown it where she wept. The species is a parent of most garden heleniums, which have been crossed with Helenium bigelovii and H. flexuosum to widen the colour range into deep reds and coppers.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden, sneezeweed is planted for late colour, when the asters and heleniums carry the border into autumn. The reflexed rays and the raised centre give it a distinct silhouette, and the range of bronze, rust and yellow fits the season. It needs a moist spot, at the edge of a pond, in a damp border, or in soil heavy enough to hold water, and it will sulk in dry sand.
The stems are stiff enough to stand without staking in most gardens, though they benefit from a pinch in June to make them bushier. It is a good cut flower, and the flowering stems last a week in water. The plant is not edible, and the toxicity that makes it dangerous to cattle means it should be kept away from grazing land and from children who might chew the stems.
Growing from Seed
Sow in spring at 18-20 °C on the surface of a moist compost, since the seed needs light to germinate, and keep the tray covered with glass until the seedlings appear in two to three weeks. Prick them out as soon as they can be handled, because they damp off easily in a crowded tray.
Grow them on in pots in a cool frame, and plant out in autumn or the following spring, in soil that holds moisture, in full sun. Space them 40 centimetres apart. Water well in the first summer and in any dry spell thereafter, since the plant’s natural habitat is wet meadow. Divide clumps every three years in spring, and cut the stems down in late autumn once the flowers have faded and the seed has been left for the birds.
Our Take
A late-summer daisy for wet ground, with bronze and rust colours that belong to September. Plant it where the soil stays damp through summer.
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