Can anyone identify this plant? It is growing in southeast Texas in full sun, sandy soil and blooms all summer. It is still blooming now. It has a round, woody stem, grows to 5' tall or more. The leaves are slightly fuzzy, serrated and alternate. The flowers have a sweet smell and attract bees and butterflies, the leaves have no scent. Normally the flowers have 5 petals but some have 6 or 7. It reseeds generously and is annual here.

Could it be tickseed sunflower (bidens aristosa)? Very pretty, whatever it is!

Just a wild guess, but could it be Bidens, beggar tick of some sort? Smooth Bidens (Bidens laevis)

Thanks, both. The blooms look very similar, but my plant has much wider leaves. It is my favorite weed. I probably should try to get clearer pictures.

Bur Marigold (Bidens aristosa) ?

The blooms do resemble several of the Bidens species, but the leaves are broader and have serrated borders.

Cow Pen Daisies?

Wow! Now the leaves and the growth pattern look right in some of the images, but the blooms have too many rays.

Looks like it could be a variety of Helianthus.

Maybe Small headed Sunflower, Helianthus microcephalus, although its not actually shown in Tx, it is right next door in LA.
http://plants.usda.gov/core/pr...
http://uswildflowers.com/detai...

Maybe Lindheimera texana? It has larger leaves, varying number of petals and grows in Texas.

http://www.wildflower.org/gall...

Jean, that is the best yet. I will get some more pictures tomorrow. The foliage is slightly different, but anything grown from a seed can be a mutt.

Oh, try to get some photos of the seeds. If it is the Lindheimera texana the seeds look interesting and there are no seed photos in our database.

Okay. Thanks everybody. Better pictures coming as soon as the weather improves

Lindheimera texana flower sure does look like a close match but, usually the plants only grow up to 24" tall.

I was thinking sunflower since you said your plant can grow to five feet tall.

Yes, I remember considering the Lindheimera texana previously and rejected it as a match. My plant normally reaches 4' in poor conditions, and given a little water can exceed 6'. It also has a rather tangled, shrubby growth habit. Sunflowers seem to have too many petals and a tidier center than mine. I still don't think we have an exact match, but it is getting close! If the wind and rain move out, I will try for more revealing pictures - including of the seeds.

Here is another old picture of the bloom which also makes the form of the leaves easier to see.

Hmmm - for some reason the name Bidens comes to mind...

We've been there; the leaves are quite different from any Bidens images I find. Could it be some sort of cross-bred?

This link states that the L texana gets 4 to 5 feet tall? Iam not sure if this is the right plant, but seems to match.

http://www.catnapin.com/WildFl...

The leaves on L texana are narrower than my plant's and the bloom is slightly different ( my flower petals lack that "tacked on" look) so the height is not the only obstacle. I hate to be a nuisance, but I don't think the mystery is solved.

How about Sunflower Goldeneye, Viguiera dentata
http://www.wildflower.org/plan...