NC Native Plant Society:
Plant Details

Verbesina occidentalis

Southern Crownbeard, Yellow Crownbeard, Stick-weed

Scientific Name:	Verbesina occidentalis
Genus:	Verbesina
Species Epithet:	occidentalis
Common Name:	Southern Crownbeard, Yellow Crownbeard, Stick-weed
Plant Type	Herb/Wildflower
Life Cycle	Perennial
Plant Family	Asteraceae (Aster Family)
Native/Alien:	NC Native
Size:	0-1 ft., 1-3 ft., 3-6 ft., 6-12 ft.
Bloom Color(s):	Yellow
Light:	Sun - 6 or more hours of sun per day, Part Shade - 2 to 6 hours of sun per day
Soil Moisture:	Dry, Moist, Wet
Bloom Time:	August, September, October
Growing Area:	Mountains, Piedmont, Sandhills, Coastal Plain
Habitat Description:	Forests, woodlands, pastures, and roadsides, especially abundant in alluvial areas or upslope over mafic or calcareous rocks. Common throughout NC. Mainly in wetlands, but also into uplands—brownwater river floodplains and bottomlands, openings and clearings in these forests, marshes, moist woodlands, meadows, pastures, roadside ditches; edges of maritime forest. Can be common in mesic to rich upland soils of forest edges and thickets, but mainly where the soils are somewhat high pH. - “Vascular Plants of North Carolina” website
Leaf Arrangement:	Opposite
Leaf Retention:	Deciduous
Leaf Type:	Leaves veined, not needle-like or scale-like
Leaf Form:	Simple
Life Cycle:	Perennial
Wildlife Value:	Important for Wildlife
Landscape Value:	Recommended and Available
State Rank:	S5: Secure ^(*Key)
Global Rank:	G5 - Secure ^(*Key)
Notes:	Sometimes confused with Common WingStem (Verbesina alternifolia) - Wingstem has alternate leaves as indicated by the name "alternifolia." Southern Crownbeard has opposite leaves. This plant has special value to bumblebees and honeybees.
Plants
Blooms
Winged stems and opposite leaf arrangement.
Blooms with butterfly Orange County, NC Bettina Darveaux
Dried flower heads in November. Orange Co., NC., -cultivated Bettina Darveaux
Close-up of the achenes. Orange Co., NC., -cultivated Bettina Darveaux
Links:	USDA PLANTS Database Record eFloras Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Vascular Plants of North Carolina