Mountain Pimpernel
Taenidia montana
Found in shale barrens and rocky woodlands over shale, greenstone, calcareous sandstone, and other calcareous and mafic rocks. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
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Will it fit your yard?No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 17 Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone

Steep, sun-baked slopes of loose shale with sparse oaks and Virginia pine and their own endemic wildflowers. Linked only where the source names shale barrens; calcareous shale stays with the limestone glades.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on mafic or serpentine rock
Open, thin-soil openings, outcrops and cliffs on dark, magnesium- or iron-rich rock such as serpentine, diabase or gabbro.
Forest or woodland where the source does not say how moist or dry.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food. 129 animals.
- Kentucky WarblerOporornis formosus
- Northern Rough-winged SwallowStelgidopteryx serripennis
- Prairie WarblerDendroica discolor
- Prothonotary WarblerProtonotaria citrea
- Rough-legged HawkButeo lagopus
- Short-eared OwlAsio flammeus
- Snowy OwlBubo scandiacus
- White-crowned SparrowZonotrichia leucophrys
- Yellow-throated WarblerDendroica dominica
Who uses this plant?
4CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Taenidia
- Papilio polyxenesBlack Swallowtail, Celery Caterpillar, Fennel Worm, Desert Black Swallowtail, Parsnip Swallowtail
- Agonopterix clemensella
- Agonopterix flavicomella
- Epermenia pimpinella
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Family not recorded
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | S3 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| VA 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
- Virginia DCR Natural Heritage rare plant list
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (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










