Ozark Crownbeard
Verbesina helianthoides
Found in prairies, oak savannas, glades, dry woodlands over mafic rocks, barrens. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Mississippi (estimated). How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- 1 foot 8 inches–3 feet 11 inches
- Spread
- 1–2 feet
- Light
- Full sun to part shade
- Soil moisture
- Dry to average
Space about 1.5 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 44 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- May to October
Not yet recorded · Leaves
Recorded in 31 Mississippi counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open, grass-dominated places kept open by fire, grazing or thin soil, from tallgrass prairie to Piedmont prairies.
Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Who uses this plant?
19CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS
Genus host records with ranges including MS · Verbesina
- Chlosyne nycteisSilvery Checkerspot
- Acharia stimuleaSaddleback Caterpillar Moth
- Anthanassa texanaTexan Crescent
- Basilodes pepitaGold Moth, Crownbeard Seedcropper
- Cirrhophanus trianguliferGoldenrod Stowaway, Beggarticks Seedcropper
- Dichomeris setosellaHairy Dichomeris
- Dysodia oculatanaEyed Thyris
- Euphydryas phaetonThe Baltimore, The Black Checker
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Lascoria ambigualisAmbiguous Moth, Ambiguous Litter Moth
Show all 19
- Ogdoconta cinereolaCommon Pinkband Groundling
- Phyciodes tharosPearl Crescent, Crescentspot
- Schinia binaBina Flower Moth
- Schinia sirenAluring Schinia Moth
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
- Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
- Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
- Adaina bipunctatus
- Agonopterix eupatoriiella
40BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Verbesina
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 · Verbesina
- Andrena aliciae
- Calliopsis coloradensis
- Colletes compactus
- Megachile xylocopoides
2BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Verbesina
- Callipepla gambeliiGambel's Quail
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
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 2
- Scepsis fulvicollis
- Systoechus vulgaris
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Adult butterflies / moths 2
- Phyciodes tharos
- Thanaos juvenalis
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Other wasps 3
- Sphex nigricans
- Sphex procera
- Stictiella pictifrons
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 5–8
- Flower color
- Yellow
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to October” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition (ranked first; Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differs) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Hardiness · “Zones 5–8” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
- Height · “1 foot 8 inches–3 feet 11 inches” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Full sun to part shade” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder (ranked first; Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differs)
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide
- Soil · “Dry to medium” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder (ranked first; Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differs)
- Spread · “1–2 feet” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
Also known as
Gravelweed
Conservation status
| Mississippi rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| MS 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
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- Mississippi occurrence source
- 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