Helianthella uniflora

Hello, I’m Hailey the Oneflower helianthella! And my family’s life begins during the harsh winters in Canada, the snow blowing cold; just the way we like it! Canada is the perfect place for us, not just because we’re different and add color to the white world around us, unlike other plants like us, we’re useful to bees in the springtime and in summer grazing deer think we’re yummy! You would think being gobbled whole would make us upset, but we feel happy to help spread more family around! We, more importantly, I wasn’t always so willing to go on adventures, not at all. For most of my life as a young plant, I would stay in a deep sleep in my cold wonderland for a long, long while. To be specific, up to 45 days! I remember my sister being so stubborn that it took her 90 days to wake up from her long nap, similar to me! After those long 90 days, my sibling and I begin to sprout, even before the snow melts. Slowly yet surely, we make our way through the quickly melting snow, our buds starting to form properly. After about a month, seven weeks exactly, our buds open and my sister and I begin to bloom into our grown up stage! Our bright yellow petals protruding like no tomorrow, and our long stems growing to a solid 3.9 feet tall! We get that trait from our distant cousins, the sunflower, they’re pretty neat if I do say so myself! If I’m correct, I do believe my whole general “family tree” is called Asteraceae, the most common from that group is the sunflower. I am a proud, proud Asteraceae, and a proud, proud Helianthella uniflora; and I wouldn’t dream to be anything else!

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