Zizia aptera

Native

Moderate moisture to wet. Moist prairies, wood openings, savannas, thickets. Sandy soil. Full sun.

May to July

Yellow

12″ to 36″

This is a 12″ to 36″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises from a dense cluster of coarse, fibrous, tuberous-thickened roots.

The stems are erect or ascending, hairless or nearly hairless, keeled, and branched above the middle.

Basal leaves and sometimes lower stem leaves are usually heart-shaped, neither lobed nor compound, ¾″ to 5⅞″ long, about 3″ wide, and on long leaf stalks. Sometimes they are divided into 3 stalked leaflets (ternate), or 3 lobes.

Stem leaves are usually ternate, occasionally undivided, occasionally divided into 3 lobes, sometimes with each lobe divided into 3 secondary lobes. The leaves become progressively smaller, less divided, and on shorter leaf stalks as they ascend the stem. Upper stem leaves are nearly stalkless and once ternate.

The leaflets are egg-shaped to lance-shaped, 1″ to 4¾″ long, and ½″ to 1¼″ wide. They are hairless, rounded or tapered asymmetrically at the base, and tapered to a point or blunt at the tip. They may have 1 or 2 shallow lobes. The margins are sharply toothed with 5 to 10 fine, forward-pointing teeth every ⅜″.

The inflorescence is a compound umbel at the end of the stem and branches. It is up to 3″ in diameter and has 11 to 16 slender, ¼″ to 1¼″ long branches (rays). There is no bract at the base of the umbel. At the end of each ray is a small umbel (umbellet). There are 11 to 19 or more individual flowers in each umbellet. The central flower in each umbellet is stalkless or nearly stalkless. There is a leaf-like bract at the base of each umbellet.

The flowers are about ⅛″ across. The 5 petals are bright yellow and curve inward. There are 5 yellow stamens with yellow anthers. Some of the stamens do not protrude above the petals. There is no floral scent.

The fruit is dry, oval to egg-shaped, 1 ⁄16″ to ⅛″ long, 1 ⁄16″ wide achene. It is ribbed but is not winged. At maturity it splits into 2 segments, each containing 1 seed.

Golden alexanders (Zizia aurea) basal leaves and lower stem leaves are always ternate or biternate, never heart-shaped. Lower stem leaves are usually triternate or biternate.

Wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is much taller, up to 60″ tall at maturity. The leaves are pinnately compound with 5 to 15 leaflets.

Yellow meadow parsnip (Thaspium barbinode) umbellets have a central flower that is on a short but distinct flower stalk. The achenes are winged.