Zizia aurea

Zizia aurea
Inflorescence
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Apiaceae
Genus:	Zizia
Species:	Z. aurea
Binomial name
Zizia aurea (L.) W.D.J. Koch
Synonyms[1]
Smyrnium aureum L. Zizia aurea f. obtusifolia (Bissell) Fernald Zizia aurea var. obtusifolia Bissell

Zizia aurea (golden alexanders, golden zizia) is a flowering perennial forb of the carrot family (Apiaceae). It is hardy in USDA zones 4-9. It can be found from New Brunswick to Saskatchewan in Canada, south to Florida and Texas in the United States.^[2]

This native North American flower usually ranges in height from forty centimeters to seventy five centimeters tall but can sometimes grow taller. The leaves of the Golden Alexanders can up to eight centimeters long and five centimeters wide. They are normally lanceolate or ovate. Other distinguishing factors of the leaves are that they have serrated edges as well as two or three lobes in the leaf.

Golden Alexanders blooms from May to June. Its flowers are yellow and bunched at the top of the plant. Each flower is only three millimeters long and has five sepals, five petals, and five stamens. Each flower produces a single three to four millimeter long, oblong, green fruit capsule. These fruits change color as the year goes on. Each one contains a brown seed. In the fall both the leaves and the fruit turn purple.

Range and habitat

It is most often found in habitats such as moist black soil prairies, openings in moist to mesic woodlands, savannas, thickets, limestone glades and bluffs, power line clearings in woodland areas, abandoned fields, and wet meadows. Golden Alexanders is known for its ability to survive dry summers even though it prefers wet habitats.

References