Coreopsis gladiata

Native to the southeastern United States, this plant is a perennial herb forming small clumps about two and a half feet tall. Its slender, upright stems can branch. The thick, smooth-edged leaves are broader and stalked near the base, becoming narrower and nearly stalkless farther up the stems. Yellow flowerheads have usually eight ray florets with notched tips surrounding numerous small, tubular disk florets that are brown to purplish. The dry, flattened fruits have fringed wings and two short, pointed scales. The species flowers mainly in late summer and fall and grows in moist pinelands, savannas, wet prairies, marshes and ditches. It is considered significantly rare in North Carolina. Photographed in Florida.