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Goat's-rue

Tephrosia virginiana

Found in sandhills; forests and woodlands; cliffs, ledges and rocky summits; shale barrens; roadsides, fields and disturbed ground. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you

48
Good

Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 100%

Height
1–2 feet
Spread
9 inches–1.5 feet
Light
Deep shade, Full sun, Partial shade
Soil moisture
Dry to average

Space about 1 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 100 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 June
Fruiting season
July to October

Not yet recorded · Leaves

Recorded in 89 Virginia counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 5

Cliffs, ledges and rocky summits

Sassafras Mountain rock outcrop
Rock outcrop on a mountain summit. Shown: Sassafras Mountain, on the North Carolina and South Carolina line, a neighboring state.Sassafras Mountain rock outcrop, Alan M. Cressler / U.S. Geological Survey, undated. Public domain. Source record. Faithful JPEG display decode of embedded JP2; no AI or color enhancement. Phone derivative resized proportionally.

Sandhills

Dry, deep-sand ridges with longleaf pine and turkey oak, kept open by fire.

Forests and woodlands

Forest or woodland where the source does not say how moist or dry.

Shale barrens

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.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

All habitats

Also found with this plant

Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food. 110 animals.

All wildlife of Virginia

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

6CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Tephrosia

  • Cecropterus bathyllusSouthern Cloudywing
  • Cecropterus confusisConfusing Cloudywing, Confused Cloudy Wing
  • Cecropterus pyladesNorthern Cloudywing
  • Digrammia eremiataThree-Lined Angle
  • Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
  • Ulophora groteii
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
30BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Tephrosia

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
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Fabaceae
Hardiness
Zones 3a–9b
Soil pH
Acidic
Flower color
Yellow or pink
Fruit begins
July
Fruit ends
October

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope
Also known as

Catgut; Goat's rue; Goats Rue

Conservation status

Virginia rankS5
Global rankG5
VA statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

In your garden

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Sources