This cache is part of the Smoky Valley Scenic Byway Wildflower Series.
Caches will be named after a Kansas Wildflower with information. Try to find them all!
For more information visit www.kswildflower.org
Suggested equipment: a log roller
| Height: 2-9 feet |
| Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family |
| Flowering Period: August, September |
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| Stems: |
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Erect, solitary or loosely clustered, light green to occasionally reddish, rough-hairy, especially above. |
| Leaves: |
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Mostly alternate, simple, short-stalked, lanceolate, 3 to 12 inches long, 1/2 to 2 inches wide, rough, grayish green, often folded lengthwise to form down-curving trough; margins entire to shallow-toothed. |
| Inflorescences: |
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Heads, numerous, usually in raceme-like clusters, on stout stalks, in upper leaf axils, 2 to 3 inches wide; bracts linear-lanceolate, exceeding disk, hairy, tips slender. |
| Flowers: |
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Ray florets 10-25, to 1.5 inch long, yellow; disk florets yellow. |
| Fruits: |
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Achenes, wedge-shaped, flattened, gray, black spotted, without bristles or scales, enclosing small seed. |
| Habitat: |
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Open, dry or damp prairies, rocky pastures and hillsides, waste ground, roadsides, and low moist areas, most abundant in sandy soils. |
| Distribution: |
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Throughout Kansas. |
| Forage Value: |
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Maximilian sunflower is a desirable range plant that is palatable and nutritious for livestock. |
| Uses: |
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Produces a heavy crop of seed that is excellent wildlife food. |
| Comments: |
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Named for Prince Maximilian Alexander Philip von Wied-Neuwied, (1782-1867), the German botanist who discovered it while traveling in North America. |