Wildflower (forb) · Asteraceae
Butterweed
Packera glabella
Butterweed is recorded as native to 18 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 490 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Butterweed at a glance
- Native in
- 490 counties, across 18 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 10b PLANTS minimum temperature 32°F
- Mature height
- 3.2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 10b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 32°F; zone 10b winters bottom out at 35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Butterweed is recorded as native to 18 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 490 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 490 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 14 counties
- Arkansas 56 counties
- Florida 45 counties
- Georgia 24 counties
- Illinois 48 counties
- Indiana 32 counties
- Kansas 11 counties
- Kentucky 31 counties
- Louisiana 63 counties
- Mississippi 6 counties
- Missouri 46 counties
- Nebraska 2 counties
- North Carolina 7 counties
- Ohio 4 counties
- Oklahoma 12 counties
- South Carolina 28 counties
- Tennessee 42 counties
- Texas 19 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
- Mature height
- 3.2 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and fine
- pH range
- 4 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 32°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 10b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 160
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Asteraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PAGL17
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 glabella (PLANTS symbol PAGL17).
- 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