Butterweed
Packera glabella
Found in swamp forests, bottomland forests, cleared areas in bottomlands, wet agricultural fields, ditches, often in mucky soils. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 100%
- Height
- About 3.2 feet
- Light
- Sun, Part shade
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual
- Bloom
- March and June
- Fruiting season
- Spring
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 60 Alabama counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
19CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL
Genus host records with ranges including AL · Senecio
- Apantesis naisNais Tiger Moth
- Autoplusia egenaBean-Leaf Skeletonizer Moth
- Emmelina monodactylaMorning-Glory Plume Moth
- Estigmene acreaSalt Marsh Moth, Acrea Moth
- Hellinsia kellicottiiGoldenrod Borer Plume Moth
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Lioptilodes albistriolatusMousy Plume Moth
- Orthonama obstipataThe Gem
- Palthis asopialisFaint-Spotted Palthis
- Ponometia exiguaBicolored Bird-Dropping Moth
Show all 19
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
- Trichoplusia niNi Moth, Cabbage Looper Moth
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Vanessa virginiensisAmerican Lady, American Painted Lady
- Xestia dolosaGreater Black-Letter Dart, Greater Spotted Cutworm
- Adaina bipunctatus
- Hellinsia lacteodactylus
- Phyllocnistis insignis
75BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Packera
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
4Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Senecio
- Andrena gardineri
- Andrena senticulosa
- Osmia coloradensis
- Perdita octomaculata
4BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Senecio
- Haemorhous mexicanusHouse Finch
- Spinus psaltriaLesser Goldfinch
- Spinus tristisAmerican Goldfinch
- Tympanuchus pallidicinctusLesser Prairie-Chicken
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth habit
- Grows in clumps
- Foliage color
- Green
- Fruit begins
- Spring
- Fruit ends
- Spring
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “March to early June” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Foliage color · “Green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit begins · “Spring” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit ends · “Spring” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth habit · “Grows in clumps” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth rate · “Moderate” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Height · “About 3.2 feet” · USDA PLANTS (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs) · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Life cycle · “Annual” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Sun; Part shade” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · USDA PLANTS
- Soil · “Moist” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Also known as
Senecio glabellus; Smooth Ragwort; Smooth Yellowtop; groundsel
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications