heart-leaf golden Alexanders
Zizia aptera
It is one of the few plants with shallow enough flowers to provide nectar to short-tongued insects like small carpenter bees and syrphid flies.
- Scientific name
- Zizia aptera
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Apiales › Apiaceae › Zizia
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Tallgrass prairies, meadows, open woodlands, and savannas.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (sunlight, water, and minerals from moist, loamy soils).
- Range
- United States, Canada
- Size
- 30-90 cm tall
- Lifespan
- Perennial (typically 5-10 years)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss due to agriculture, urban sprawl, and competition from invasive species like Buckthorn.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. This plant is safe to touch and observe. Ensure correct identification via its heart-shaped basal leaves to avoid confusion with toxic look-alikes such as Water Hemlock.
Zizia is a genus of flowering plants in the parsley family, Apiaceae. It was named after Johann Baptist Ziz (1779–1829), a German botanist from the Rhineland. It is native to North America.
Photo: psweet, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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