Small-headed Silkgrass
Pityopsis microcephala
Found in longleaf pine sandhills, sandy woodlands, pine savannas, pine flatwoods, other dry woodlands. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- Up to about 32 inches
- Light
- Partial shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to moist
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- July to October
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 12 Alabama counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Dry, deep-sand ridges with longleaf pine and turkey oak, kept open by fire.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Who uses this plant?
18CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL
Genus host records with ranges including AL · Heterotheca
- Chloridea virescensTobacco Budworm Moth
- Chlorochlamys chloroleucariaBlackberry Looper Moth
- Epiblema scudderianaScudder's Epiblema, Goldenrod Gall Moth
- Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
- Feltia subgothicaSubgothic Dart
- Feltia tricosaConfused Dart, Tricose Dart
- Heliocheilus paradoxusParadoxical Grass Moth
- Pleuroprucha insulsariaCommon Tan Wave
- Ponometia semiflavaHalf-Yellow Bird-Dropping Moth, Half-Yellow Moth
- Schinia arcigeraArcigera Flower Moth
Show all 18
- Schinia lynxLynx Flower Moth
- Schinia nubilaCamphorweed Flower Moth
- Schinia saturataBrown Flower Moth
- Schinia sirenAluring Schinia Moth
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
- Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
- Dejongia californicus
- Hellinsia chlorias
48BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Pityopsis
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
22Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Heterotheca
- Andrena fulvipennis
- Ashmeadiella bucconis
- Colletes speculiferus
- Colletes thysanellae
- Dieunomia heteropoda
- Dieunomia nevadensis
- Hesperapis carinata
- Melissodes coreopsis
- Melissodes dentiventris
- Melissodes desponsus
Show all 22
- Melissodes druriellus
- Melissodes menuachus
- Perdita albipennis
- Perdita bishoppi
- Perdita boltoniae
- Perdita consobrina
- Perdita georgica
- Perdita graenicheri
- Perdita ignota
- Perdita octomaculata
- Perdita swenki
- Perdita xanthismae
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimNo records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Flower color
- Yellow
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to October” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Height · “Up to about 32 inches” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Soil · “Dry; Moist (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Heterotheca nervosa var. nervosa; Pityopsis graminifolia var. tenuifolia; Small headed Silkgrass; golden aster; golden-aster
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5T5? [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)
- FloraQuest: South Central (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