thinleaf sunflower, Helianthus decapetalus

The specific name here, 'decapetalus', is of course a bit of a misnomer. This particular one has sixteen rather than ten ray flowers. Each of those has but one long ray, or petal if you will. This image was from a patch along a two-track in woods. Thinleaf sunflowers, like many of their genus are large plants, often up to two meters tall. This particular patch had plants 3.3 meters high. Thinleaf grows in AL, CT, DE , GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV, NB, ON, and QC. Lenawee Co MI, 8/20/10.