Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Hairy Leafcup - Smallanthus uvedalia   (L.) Mackenzie
Members of Asteraceae:
Only member of Smallanthus in NC.
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Section 6 » Family Asteraceae
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Author(L.) Mackenzie
DistributionMountains and Piedmont, and scattered over most of the Coastal Plain (mostly in brownwater floodplains). Not in the Sandhills region.

NY to southern MI, MO, and southeastern KS, south to central FL and central TX.
AbundanceGenerally common in the Mountains; fairly common to common in the Piedmont, where seemingly spreading and increasing. Uncommon in the Coastal Plain where there are brownwater rivers, but rare to absent in many areas; spreading in range in that province also. A very large population (hundreds) occurs at the margin of the Deep River bridge in High Falls, Moore Co.
HabitatMesic to rich hardwood forests, moist rocky slope forests, ravines, cove hardwoods, brownwater bottomlands, and upper terraces of brownwater floodplains. Favors rich soils, though not necessarily on circumneutral soil.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting July-September.
IdentificationHairy Leafcup is a broadly-branched, shrublike herb that grows 3-7 (-9) feet tall, with opposite, wing-stalked leaves about a foot long and mostly 3-lobed (rather like huge maple leaves). The inflorescence holds 1-5 heads from short branches, with 7-13 yellow rays per head. Vegetatively is is similar to White-flowered Leafcup, but that species has white rays (that are short or often lacking) and its leaves are pinnately divided into 5 lobes. The number of counties with sight records and iNaturalist photo records is an indication of a spread in populations into "new" counties, it obviously being more widespread across the state now than 50-60 years ago.
Taxonomic CommentsIn older texts treated as Polymnia uvedalia.

Other Common Name(s)Bearsfoot, Yellow-flowered Leafcup
State Rank[S5]
Global RankG4G5 [G5]
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Photo Gallery
photographercommentsphoto_linkcountyobsType
B.A. SorriePiedmont, mesic slope by Deep River, E of Glendon, Sept 2020. MoorePhoto_natural
B.A. SorrieBlue Ridge Parkway, Aug 2014.