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Arnica Himalayan Sunflower
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Arnica Himalayan Sunflower
ative Photo: Prashant Awale
Common name: Arnica Himalayan Sunflower
Botanical name: Cremanthodium arnicoides    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
Synonyms: Senecio arnicoides, Ligularia arnicoides, Senecillis arnicoides

Arnica Himalayan Sunflower is an eye-catching wild-flower with yellow sunflower-like flower-heads up to 5 cm across, with a dark central disk. The species name arnicoides means resembling Arnica flowers. Nodding flower-heads are borne several, in a spike-like cluster 10-30 cm long, at the top of the unbranched, up to 2 ft tall stem. Ray florets are upto 1.5 cm long. Bracts at the base of the flower-head are elliptic pointed, fused at their bases. Basal leaves are carried on long, winged stalks, and are up to a foot long, ovate-oblong, coarsely toothed. Stem leaves are progressively smaller, more pointed, and stem-clasping. Arnica Himalayan Sunflower is found in the Himalayas, from Pakistan to SW China, at altitudes of 3300-4800 m. Flowering: July-September.

Identification credit: Prashant Awale Photographed enroute to Hemkund, Uttarakhand.

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