Tetragonotheca helianthoides L.

Squarehead; Pineland Ginseng; Pineland Nerve Ray

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Pineland Ginseng is a native herbaceous perennial in the Sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to the southern half of Alabama. Pineland Ginseng occurs in dry pine or pine/hardwood forests, on roadside banks, in sand hills, and under powerline right-of-ways. It is a perennial with a thick taproot. Several stems up to 2 feet in height are usually produced from each crown. The stems are erect, green in color, and retrorsely villous. The leaves are opposite, sessile, rhombic to lanceolate in outline, and coarsely toothed. The leaves are dark green in color, pubescent, and gland dotted. Flowers are produced in heads. The heads are terminal on the stems or on short shoots from the axils of the upper leaves. The developing heads are enclosed in 4 large, foliaceous bracts, giving the species another of its common names—Square Heads. Individual heads have 6-14 yellow ray flowers that are 3-toothed at the apex. There are 25-150 greenish-yellow or reddish disc flowers. The fruit is an achene. Pineland Ginseng is not usually available in nurseries though it can be raised from seed. The large taproot makes it difficult to transplant, so plant seed in the autumn in the spot you want the mature plant to grow. Seedlings do not transplant well. Plants usually flower in the second or third year from seed. Plants prefer a sandy, well-draining soil and full sun. They are drought tolerant. Pineland Ginseng refers to the use of the root of this plant in the same fashion as American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius Linnaeus) which is absent or rare on most of the Coastal Plain.--A. Diamond

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Native

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