Heliopsis helianthoides (ox-eye sunflower, "Kikuimomodoki")

Japanese name: キクイモモドキ （菊芋擬）
Scientific name: Heliopsis helianthoides

[Overview]
A perennial 1–1.5 m tall, seen on vacant lots and similar places in urban areas.
It has short underground stems, and the stem branches at the base to form a clump.
Leaves are simple and opposite, ovate to ovate-elliptic, sharply pointed at the tip, with the base gradually narrowing and running down the petiole as a narrow wing.
The leaf surface is rough because of sparse short bristles, and the margin is coarsely toothed.
The petiole is short.
A corymb is borne at the tip of a long flower stalk, bearing many yellow flowers 5–7 cm across.
There are about 15 ray florets, each 2–2.8 cm long, and the tubular florets rise in a hemispherical mound.
The fruit is an achene about 3 mm long with no pappus.

[History]
Plants introduced in the middle of the Meiji era as ornamentals have escaped.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by division, cuttings or seed.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained place, but it adapts to a wide range of environments and is easy to grow.
It also grows on poor soil.
Pests and diseases are hardly seen.

[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to derive from the fact that, although it resembles Kikuimo, it does not form tubers.

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