This weekend our research group spent several days down on the Gulf Coast. There are many interesting coastal species, but these bright flowers caught my eye by one of our research sites. This plant is known as Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis) and I found it growing right along the edge of the beach in the sandy dunes near the water. The stems of this flower are hairy and branched, sometimes red/brown mottled. Some of these Beach sunflowers rise up to 6 ft. tall. Leaves are usually lobed and the flower heads bear yellow rays and reddish disks. As you can see in the picture below, most of the flowers were beginning to loose their petals, leaving behind a dark brown/black mass.
The native habitat of this plant is on dunes and disturbed areas throughout coastal areas. This sunflower is quite salt tolerant, and grows in sandy soil in full sun. It is used for dune stabilization, and is especially useful on banks and slopes in beach-front situations.
Check out my iNaturalist post here.
Source: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=HEDE4