golden Alexanders
Zizia aurea
This plant is a critical food source for the black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar, which eagerly devours its compound leaves.
- Scientific name
- Zizia aurea
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Apiales › Apiaceae › Zizia
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Moist prairies, meadows, open woodlands, and abandoned fields.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (Photosynthetic)
- Range
- Eastern United States, Eastern Canada, Great Plains
- Size
- 30 to 90 centimeters tall
- Lifespan
- 3-5 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat destruction, displacement by aggressive invasive weeds, and heavy mowing during the spring blooming season.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to touch, but exercise extreme caution in identification: Golden Alexanders closely resemble highly toxic species like poison hemlock. Do not ingest. If sap contacts skin, wash with soap and water to avoid potential mild phototoxicity.
Zizia aurea ( golden alexanders , golden zizia ) is a flowering perennial forb of the carrot family (Apiaceae). It is hardy in USDA zones 4-9. It can be found from New Brunswick to Saskatchewan in Canada, south to Florida and Texas in the United States.
Photo: christine123, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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