This 655-acre native prairie was purchased from Vaughn Lumpee in 1987. Mr. Lumpee ran a cattle operation on this area and he had a great fondness for the cowboy lifestyle.
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Scientific Name
Helianthus mollis
Family
Asteraceae (daisies, sunflowers)
Description
Ashy sunflower is short compared to others in its genus. Its leaves are grayish, hairy, sessile, and broadly oval. Its colonies are common in upland prairies in the southern half of the state.
Ashy sunflower is a perennial sunflower, usually much shorter than 4 feet tall, growing from rhizomes, usually appearing in colonies. The foliage is conspicuously hairy, making the plant look grayish.
The flowerheads are few, often a lemony yellow, to 3½ inches wide. The overlapping bracts beneath the flowerhead are many, narrow, and thin.
Blooms July–October.
The leaves are sessile (stalkless), stiff, densely gray-hairy, broadly ovate, opposite, with inconspicuous teeth.
Similar species: Of the 6 most widely distributed sunflowers in Missouri, 2 others have leaves with very short petioles (leaf stems):
- Stiff-haired sunflower (H. hirsutus) has fairly uniform lanceolate leaves, almost all opposite, with small teeth. The rough hairs make it feel like sandpaper. The flowerheads are all yellow; the rays often point upward.
- Prairie sunflower (H. pauciflorus) grows to 7 feet tall and has toothless, rough-hairy, mostly broadly lanceolate leaves that are green (not grayish). The disk florets are purple, the flowerheads few, but large.
Wholeleaf rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium) can be confused with ashy sunflower. It grows in similar habitats and also has opposite, sessile pairs of leaves on its stems.
- But in most of Missouri, the leaves of wholeleaf rosinweed are thick and rough-textured, almost like sandpaper, while ashy sunflower's leaves are softly hairy, appearing ashy gray. (Along the western edge of Missouri, wholeleaf rosinweed's foliage is smooth, hairless, and white-waxy-coated.)
- Being a rosinweed, its central disk florets only produce pollen, not seeds.
For an overview of Missouri’s sunflowers, visit their group page.
Other Common Names
Hairy Sunflower
Downy Sunflower
Size
Height: to 4 feet, but usually much shorter.
Where To Find
Common in the Unglaciated Plains, thus mostly in the western and southern parts of the state; scattered elsewhere. Mostly absent from northwestern Missouri.
Habitat and Conservation
Primarily occurs in prairies, but also roadsides and fields: upland prairies and glades, pastures, old fields, fencerows, margins of ditches, railroads, and roadsides.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower. Prairie wildflower.
Human Connections
Ashy sunflower is an interesting choice for native landscaping. It can spread aggressively by rootstocks and by seed. It is a hardy perennial that tolerates dry, poor, rocky soils and full sun. If you have erosion problems, this might be an option.
Tallgrass prairies have a special charm that is not apparent when you speed past them on a highway. But if you visit a prairie regularly, and watch plants like ashy sunflower grow and develop over the course of a year, you learn to love even their dried remains that stand starkly through the winter.
The species name, mollis, is from the Latin word for "soft." It describes this sunflower's soft, downy hairs. The same root is used for the word mollusc (for the soft bodies of those animals) and the word mollify (to soften, soothe, appease, or assuage); it's likely related to our word melt.
Ecosystem Connections
Sunflowers provide nectar and pollen to a great variety of insects, plus a hunting ground for spiders, assassin bugs, and other predators of the many insects attracted to the nectar and pollen.
When the flowers are spent, birds and mammals, including finches and rodents, relish the sunflower seeds.
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Media Gallery
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Caption
Often growing in colonies, ashy sunflower is relatively short compared to others in its genus. Its grayish, hairy, sessile, broadly oval leaves, and its appearance in upland prairies in the southern half of the state, help to identify it.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
The few flowerheads of ashy sunflower have 17–30 ray florets, which are often a lemony yellow. The flowerheads are about 3½ inches wide.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
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Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
The overlapping bracts (called involucral bracts) beneath the flowerhead of ashy sunflower are many, narrow, and covered with hairs.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
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Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
Ashy sunflower typically grows in colonies in prairies. It's a hardy species adapted to hot, dry conditions and competes successfully with the many other hardy perennial plants on the prairie. It spreads via rootstocks and by seed.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
Ashy sunflower is named for its grayish leaves and stems. The leaves of ashy sunflower are opposite, sessile, broadly ovate, stiff, and densely gray-hairy, with inconspicuous teeth.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
Ashy sunflower is a native perennial wildflower that usually grows in colonies. It’s most often encountered in prairies in all but the southeastern quarter of the state.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
Use of this image is restricted to MDC only
Image
Caption
Colonies of ashy sunflowers, with their sunny yellow blossoms and grayish foliage, make a striking late summer display in our native tallgrass prairies.
Credit
J. E. Wylie
Right to Use
Photo by J. E. Wylie, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
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Caption
Sunflowers provide nectar and pollen to a great variety of insects. Insectivores such as spiders, assassin bugs, birds, and others are drawn to the insects that are drawn to the flowers. Later, birds and mammals, including finches and rodents, relish the sunflower seeds.
Credit
J. E. Wylie
Right to Use
Photo by J. E. Wylie, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
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Where to See Species
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!