Plants 60-120+ cm (perennating bases ± erect or horizontal rhizomes, internodes winged). Leaves all or mostly alternate (proximal sometimes opposite); blades ± lance-ovate to lanceolate, 5-12+ × 2-5+ cm, bases ± cuneate, margins ± toothed, apices acute to attenuate, faces strigose to sericeous. Heads 2-5(-10+) in ± corymbiform arrays. Involucres ± hemispheric, 10-15+ mm diam. Phyllaries 16-21+ in 2-3 series, ± erect, lanceolate, 6-9+ mm. Ray florets 8-13+; laminae 20-25(-30+) mm. Disc florets 40-80+; corollas yellow. Cypselae dark brown to black, oblanceolate to elliptic, 5 mm, faces strigillose to glabrate; pappi 0.5-1.5 mm. 2n = 34. Flowering May-Jul. Moist places in sandy, pine woodlands, post-oak woodlands, disturbed places; 70-500 m; Ala., Ark., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Miss., Mo., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Tenn., Tex. Verbesina helianthoides may be no longer present in Georgia.