Golden Ragwort
Packera aurea
Found in moist forests, bottomlands, bogs, stream banks. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. Not suggested for planting. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- About 3.9 feet
- Spread
- 6 inches–1.5 feet
- Light
- Shade, Partial sun
- Soil moisture
- Moderate, High
Poisonous leaves; skin irritation. Leaves can cause liver toxicity if eaten; contact can irritate skin. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Bloom
- March to June
- Fruiting season
- Summer
Recorded in 5 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Who uses this plant?
20CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · 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 20
- 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
- Platphalonidia felix
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
Flies 6
- Cistogaster occidua
- Epigrimyia floridensis
- Eristalis latifrons
- Peleteria robusta
- Sphaerophoria cylindrica
- Zodion fulvifrons
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Other wasps 1
- Leionotus clypeatus
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Adult butterflies / moths · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 3–8
- Soil pH
- Acidic
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth habit
- Spreads by rhizomes
- Foliage color
- Green
- Fruit begins
- Summer
- Fruit ends
- Summer
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “Late March to June” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) (ranked first; USDA PLANTS, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ) · 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 · “Summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit ends · “Summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth habit · “Spreads by rhizomes” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth rate · “Moderate” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Hardiness · “Zones 3–8” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
- Height · “About 3.9 feet” · USDA PLANTS (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ) · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Leaves · “Evergreen” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Shade (minimum requirement); Partial sun (minimum requirement)” · Virginia DCR Piedmont (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ) · Virginia regional planting chart; sunlight is a minimum requirement, moisture is low/moderate/high
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · USDA PLANTS
- Soil · “Moderate; High” · Virginia DCR Piedmont (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ) · Virginia regional planting chart; sunlight is a minimum requirement, moisture is low/moderate/high
- Soil pH · “Acidic” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Spread · “6 inches–1.5 feet” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
Also known as
Senecio aureus; groundsel
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL 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.
Growing cautions
- Spreads by rhizomes. USDA PLANTS lists its growth form as rhizomatous. USDA PLANTS
For planning only; these do not change the score or Fit.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- 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)
- FloraQuest: Florida (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