Zizia aurea (Golden Alexander)

Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea)

Height, Spread: 1-2 ft for both

Water/Soil: Moist-average, occasionally wet or dry, well-drained, clay, loam, high organic matter

Light: Full sun-part shade

Bloom: Spring-summer, small golden umbels

Native Range: Eastern North America

Qualities: Attractive to pollinators, Host plant 

Notes: Low-maintenance hardy perennial wildflower commonly found in prairies, woodlands, and disturbed areas. This plant is great for heavy clay soils. A great pollinator plant, it attracts butterflies, bees, wasps, flies and other insects. Female golden alexander mining bees ( Andrena ziziae) only eat its pollen. It is a host plant for black swallowtail butterflies ( Papilio polyxenes) and Ozark swallowtail butterflies ( Papilio joanae). Best used in mass plantings in naturalized meadows, prairies, or woodlands, or butterfly or pollinator gardens.