Wildflower (forb) · Asteraceae
Golden tickseed
Coreopsis tinctoria · includes its varieties and subspecies
Golden tickseed is recorded as native to 44 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 794 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Golden tickseed at a glance
- Native in
- 794 counties, across 44 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 12b PLANTS minimum temperature 52°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 12b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 52°F; zone 12b winters bottom out at 55°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Golden tickseed is recorded as native to 44 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 794 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 794 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 6 counties
- Arizona 3 counties
- Arkansas 60 counties
- California 9 counties
- Colorado 9 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 6 counties
- Georgia 12 counties
- Idaho 6 counties
- Illinois 27 counties
- Indiana 1 county
- Iowa 2 counties
- Kansas 63 counties
- Kentucky 19 counties
- Louisiana 50 counties
- Maine 3 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 7 counties
- Michigan 4 counties
- Minnesota 3 counties
- Mississippi 19 counties
- Missouri 23 counties
- Montana 8 counties
- Nebraska 41 counties
- New Mexico 8 counties
- New York 8 counties
- North Carolina 37 counties
- North Dakota 9 counties
- Ohio 14 counties
- Oklahoma 41 counties
- Oregon 7 counties
- Pennsylvania 16 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Carolina 16 counties
- South Dakota 23 counties
- Tennessee 31 counties
- Texas 149 counties
- Virginia 25 counties
- Washington 13 counties
- West Virginia 3 counties
- Wisconsin 7 counties
- Wyoming 2 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Annual, Biennial, Perennial
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 20 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5.2 to 7.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 52°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 12b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 90
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Asteraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- COTI3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Coreopsis tinctoria (PLANTS symbol COTI3), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources