Phoebanthus


Phoebanthus, called the false sunflower, is a genus of North American plants in the sunflower tribe within the daisy family.
Phoebanthus includes two species of herbaceous perennials that are both native to the southeastern United States The genus is a close relative of Helianthus, the genus of the common sunflower, and the plants have the general appearance of a sunflower.

Taxonomy

Phoebanthus is characterized by having a pappus of short scales that are usually persistent compared to the pappus of two deciduous awns in Helianthus, and Phoebanthus is also characterized by a distinctive type of slender, horizontal tuber that forms the perennating organ.
;Species
The relationship between the two species has never been closely analyzed, but it does not appear that P. grandiflorus is simply an autotetraploid of P. tenuifolius.