Western Oxeye
Heliopsis helianthoides var. scabra
Found in prairies, open forests and woodlands, woodland borders. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native status unresolved in West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 18%
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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 5 West Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Forest or woodland where the source does not say how moist or dry.
Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.
Who uses this plant?
2CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · Heliopsis
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Papaipema rigidaRigid Sunflower Borer
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
10Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Heliopsis
- Andrena aliciae
- Andrena rudbeckiae
- Megachile inimica
- Megachile pugnata
- Melissodes desponsus
- Melissodes illatus
- Melissodes subillatus
- Melissodes trinodis
- Paranthidium jugatorium
- Protandrena albitarsis
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimPlant details
- Family
- ASTERACEAE
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | Not available |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| WV 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)
- West Virginia 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