In the Western States, western sneezeweed is common to many mountain ranges. Animals eat sneezeweed during the summer and fall, when other forage is scarce or has become less palatable. All plant parts are poisonous. Sneezeweed has one or several stems.
Leaves are alternate, lance shaped, and smooth edged.
Orange flowers with darker orange centers grow in clusters. Sneezeweed is a perennial of the sunflower family and is closely related to bitterweed and Colorado rubberweed Where and When It Grows Sneezeweed grows at elevations of 1500 to 4,000 meters on moist slopes and well-drained meadows from western Montana and eastern Oregon southward to California and New Mexico. It starts growing in early spring and matures in the late summer and early fall. It generally is between 0.5 and 1.0 meters tall. Sneezeweed increases with range misuse.