SKU: HZ07000

Zizia aurea - Golden Alexanders are short-lived, perennial wildflowers for full sun to part-shade. They are a larval host (caterpillar food) for the black swallowtail butterfly. A nice massing plant for open woodlands and wildlife/butterfly gardens. Golden Alexanders is an excellent addition to a wildflower garden because it provides accessible nectar to many beneficial insects with short mouthparts.

Height: 1.5 feet to 3 feet
Spread: 1.5 feet to 2 feet
Zone: 3 to 8
Soil type: Moist sandy or sandy-clay soils.
Soil pH:
Light: Full sun to part-shade
Moisture: Medium
Flowers: yellow, April-June, can flower sporadically later
Fruit: seeds
Fall color: yellow to brown

Wildlife value: The flowers are attractive to many kinds of insects seeking pollen or nectar, especially short-tongued bees, wasps, flies, and beetles. Among the short-tongued bees are such visitors as Green Metallic bees, Masked bees, and Andrenid bees. Wasp visitors include Eumenine wasps, Spider wasps, Ichneumonid wasps, and Crabronine wasps. Bumblebees, Nomadine Cuckoo bees, small butterflies, and plant bugs also visit the flowers. The caterpillars of the butterfly Papilio polyxenes asterius (Black Swallowtail) as well as the Missouri Woodland Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio joanae) eat the leaves and flowers.
Notes of Interest: Used medicinally by Meskwaki Indians to treat headache.

Distribution
AL , AR , CT , DE , FL , GA , IL , IN , IA , KS , KY , LA , ME , MD , MA , MI , MN , MS , MO , MT , NE , NH , NJ , NY , NC , ND , OH , OK , PA , RI , SC , SD , TN , TX , VT , VA , WV , WI , DC
Native Distribution: Que. to Sask. & Flathead Co. MT s. to New England FL & TX
Native Habitat: Moist black soil prairies; thickets; open woods, openings in moist to mesic woodlands, savannas, thickets, limestone glades and bluffs, powerline clearings in woodland areas, and abandoned fields.