Wildflower (forb) · Asteraceae
Golden ragwort
Packera aurea
Golden ragwort is recorded as native to 27 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 844 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Golden ragwort at a glance
- Native in
- 844 counties, across 27 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 3.9 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Golden ragwort is recorded as native to 27 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 844 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 844 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 2 counties
- Arkansas 16 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 3 counties
- Georgia 5 counties
- Illinois 49 counties
- Indiana 56 counties
- Kentucky 63 counties
- Maine 10 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 61 counties
- Minnesota 46 counties
- Missouri 56 counties
- New Hampshire 8 counties
- New Jersey 19 counties
- New York 37 counties
- North Carolina 39 counties
- Ohio 66 counties
- Pennsylvania 67 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 3 counties
- Tennessee 34 counties
- Vermont 11 counties
- Virginia 90 counties
- West Virginia 32 counties
- Wisconsin 54 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
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.9 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 15 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.5 to 8.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Early 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
- PAAU3
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
- Packera aurea (PLANTS symbol PAAU3).
- 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