Purple-headed Sneezeweed

Helenium flexuosum

Pollinator Value

🐝 Specialist Bee Host: Svastra aegis, Svastra petulca, Dianthidium curvatum, Megachile parallela
S17 genus-level Asteraceae pollen specialists visiting Helenium

Proximity Score: 0
Native Status: ✅ Outaouais ✅ Ottawa ❌ QC ❌ ON
Closest Direction: Local
CEC Eco-Regions: 5 – Northern Forests, 5.2 – Mixed Wood Shield, 5.2.3 – Algonquin/Southern Laurentians
Rarity Notes: Introduced in Canada according to VASCAN and USDA. Ranked SNA (Not Applicable) in both Ontario and Quebec, reflecting its non-native status in these provinces. Not listed under SARA. Gillett & White (1978) recorded it as uncommon in the Ottawa-Hull area, suggesting a long history of naturalization in the region.
S1 S11 S22 S26 S63
Rarity Ranks: QC SNA – Not Applicable, ON SNA – Not Applicable
Migration: Stable
Ecological Context: Purple-headed sneezeweed inhabits moist to mesic disturbed habitats including meadows, fields, roadsides, ditches, and shores of rivers or lakes. In the Ottawa-Hull region it was historically uncommon, found along the Ottawa River and at Chelsea. The species favors moist sandy or loamy soils in open to partially shaded situations and is characteristic of early-successional wet meadow and old-field communities.
S61 S7 S63 S46

Roles: Fortress/Barrier, Pollinator Attractor
S73/S29/S72 Evidence: Fortress/Barrier: S61 keyword match: spines? (supporting signal only)] | Pollinator Attractor: S73 [MEDIUM]: S68 5 bee associations (threshold=3)]

Category: Errhine, Cathartic
S4 causes sneezing; used as laxative
Notes: Dried powdered leaves and flower heads cause violent sneezing and were formerly used in treatment of colds and congestion. An infusion of leaves was used by some Indigenous peoples as a laxative. The genus name 'sneezeweed' derives from this historical use of the dried plant material as snuff.
S4

❌ Not Edible

Foraging Notes: No documented edible uses. USDA rates palatability to humans as none. No ethnobotanical food records found in Moerman.
S11 S28