Orange Sneezeweed

Left image
Close up of Orange Sneezeweed flower.

Right image
Cluster of Orange Sneezeweed flowers.

Orange Sneezeweed - Dugaldia hoopesii

Orange sneezeweed blooms from early to late summer in moist meadows. There are many yellow composites in the meadows at Cedar Breaks; this species can be distinguished by its orange central disk flowers and the three tiny lobes at the end of each ray flower (what non-botanists would call the petals).

As with other members of the Aster family, the flower heads are actually a composite of many central disk flowers surrounded by petal-looking ray flowers.

This species occurs throughout the western United States from California to New Mexico. It contains toxic chemicals that cause spewing sickness in sheep - trembling and vomiting can lead to death within a day.