Mexican Sunflower
Tithonia rotundifolia
Mexican Sunflower · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 24 August 2025
Bright orange-red and noticeably larger than a true sunflower's disc, on a plant that isn't in the sunflower genus despite the name and the family resemblance.
A fast-growing Mexican and Central American annual, tall enough by late summer to stand well over head height, and one of the best butterfly plants a garden can grow - Monarchs will cross a street for it.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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