prairie wildflower

False sunflower

Heliopsis helianthoides

Also known as Smooth Oxeye, Oxeye Sunflower

Native to much of the USA and southern Canada

Southern Quebec to Florida, west to southeastern British Columbia and New Mexico; naturalized northeastward

Light Full sun to part shade Sun tolerance
Moisture Dry Moisture preference
Zones 3–8 Cold to heat range
Bloom Jun–Sep Flowering time
Height up to 5 ft to 1.5 m
Life cycle Perennial Annual to perennial

Full details, see below

In the garden

A prairie wildflower for full sun to part shade and lean, dry soil. Its yellow flowers peak in July. At up to 5 ft, it needs room in meadows and sunny borders. Hardy in USDA zones 3–8.

Growing conditions

Light

Full sun Partial shade Full shade

Moisture

Dry Moist Wet

Hardiness zones

Find your zone:

When it blooms

The False sunflower's yellow flowers bloom June to September, peaking in July. This midsummer display draws bees and butterflies.

False sunflower blooms yellowFoliage

Pollinators & wildlife

Bees Common Eastern Bumble Bee

also Western Honey Bee, Eastern Carpenter Bee, Brown-belted Bumble Bee +221 more
Two-spotted Bumble Bee, American Bumble Bee, Ligated Furrow Bee, Tricolored Bumble Bee, Bicolored Striped Sweat Bee, Pure Green Sweat bee, Bombus fervidus, Red-belted Bumble Bee, Hunt's Bumble Bee, Two-spotted Longhorn Bee, Perplexing Bumble Bee, European Woolcarder Bee, Black-and-gold Bumble Bee, Half-black Bumble Bee, Orange-legged Furrow Bee, Agapostemon texanus, Lemon Cuckoo Bumble Bee, Yellow-banded Bumble Bee, Carpenter-mimic Leafcutter Bee, Flat-tailed Leafcutter Bee, Sculptured Resin Bee, Oblong Woolcarder Bee, Golden Sweat Bee, Great Basin Bumble Bee, Rusty-patched Bumble Bee, Confusing Furrow Bee, Nearctic Bumble Bee, Spurred Ceratina, Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee, Wilke's Mining Bee, Yellowish Cuckoo Bumble bee, Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee, Dark-veined Longhorn Bee, broad-handed leafcutter bee, Southern Plains Bumble Bee, Eastern Thistle Longhorn Bee, Pugnacious Leafcutter Bee, Western Bumble Bee, Silky Striped Sweat Bee, Cryptic Bumble Bee, Louisiana Painted-Dark bee, Bristle Sweat Bee, Slender-faced Masked Bee, Rugose-chested Sweat Bee, Sunflower Mining Bee, Patchwork Leafcutter Bee, Megachile inimica, Petulant Leafcutter Bee, Say's Cuckoo Leafcutter Bee, Squash Longhorn-Cuckoo, Calliopsis Cuckoo Nomad Bee, Punctate Masked Bee, Notch-backed Cellophane-cuckoo Bee, Goldenrod Longhorn-Cuckoo Bee, Annulate Masked Bee, Melissodes subillatus, Megachile brevis, Ceratina dupla, Nomada vincta, Hairy masked Bee, Colletes nudus, Megachile inimica sayi, Lasioglossum cinctipes, Lasioglossum nitidiusculum, Golden-tailed Woodborer, Little Masked Bee, Triepeolus cressonii, hoary sweat bee, False Sunflower Cuckoo Nomad Bee, Common Masked Bee, Melissodes vernoniae, Goatsbeard Miner Bee, Nomada bifasciata, Large-headed Armoured-Resin bee, Robust Small-Mason, Melissodes niveus, Black Masked Bee, Sphecodes smilacinae, Obscure Sweat Bee, Large Masked Bee, Spined Mason Bee, Golden Furrow Bee, Melissodes coloradensis, Linsenmaier's Nomad, Lasioglossum sabulosum, Lasioglossum pleurospeculum, Lasioglossum podolicum, Lasioglossum laevidorsum, Lasioglossum subfulvicorne, Hylaeus glacialis, Hylaeus pfankuchi, Snowy Masked Bee, Lasioglossum tarsatum, Hylaeus moricei, Nomada pleurosticta, Andrena amieti, Lasioglossum euboeense, Lasioglossum lissonotum, Lasioglossum alpigenum, Halictus carinthiacus, Hylaeus pilosulus, Heriades crenulatus, Translucent Miner, Lasioglossum aeratum, Broad-banded Nomad Bee, Shiny Dufourea, Polished Miner, Buff-tailed Mining Bee, Hylaeus alpinus, Hylaeus styriacus, Eucera nigrifacies, Panurgus dentipes, Yellow-spotted Cuckoo Nomad Bee, Ridge-gastered Furrow Bee, Hesperian Miner, Chalk Yellow-face Bee, Grey-banded Mining Bee, Andrena nigroolivacea, Lasioglossum albocinctum, Lasioglossum laeve, Halictus leucaheneus, Halictus seladonius, Great Banded Furrow Bee, White-jawed Yellow-face Bee, Megachile melanopyga, Onion Yellow-face Bee, Common Pantaloon Bee, Hylaeus sinuatus, Orange-vented Mason Bee, Short-horned Yellow-face Bee, Lasioglossum lineare, Andrena taraxaci, Horned Masked Bee, Lasioglossum marginatum, Lasioglossum nigripes, Forest Masked Bee, Hylaeus tyrolensis, Lasioglossum subfasciatum, Lasioglossum majus, Nomada distinguenda, Gredler's Masked Bee, Narrowed Masked Bee, Hylaeus gibbus, Pseudopanurgus labrosus, Lasioglossum lucidulum, Lasioglossum bluethgeni, Andrena miserabilis, Pseudapis diversipes, Osmia labialis, Hylaeus euryscapus, Small-headed Resin Bee, White-lipped Yellow-face Bee, Davies' Cellophane Bee, Hylaeus crassanus, Variegated Masked Bee, Nomada facilis, Osmia rufohirta, Lasioglossum interruptum, Bare-saddled Cellophane Bee, Andrena rhenana, Small Shaggy Bee, Lasioglossum minutulum, Osmia scutellaris, Megachile flabellipes, Hylaeus duckei, Hylaeus bifasciatus, Femoral Nomad, Snowy Mason, Megachile genalis, Hairy-saddled Cellophane Bee, Squat Furrow Bee, Osmia mustelina, Lasioglossum discum, Dotted Masked Bee, Lasioglossum subhirtum, Hylaeus imparilis, Hylaeus difformis, Nomada integra, Colourful Willow Miner Bee, Fringed Furrow Bee, Hylaeus paulus, Hylaeus taeniolatus, Lasioglossum marginellum, Hylaeus kahri, Large Shaggy Bee, Small Shiny Furrow Bee, Colletes mlokossewiczi, Andrena livens, Reed Yellow-face Bee, Sunflower Cuckoo Nomad Bee, Epimelissodes petulcus, Yellow-faced Miner Bee, Megachile frugalis frugalis, Pseudopanurgus albitarsis, Bellflower Resin Bee, Pseudoanthidium nanum, Sunflower Burrowing-Resin bee, Valiant Long-horned Bee, Megachile pugnata pugnata, Nimble Ceratina, Giant Sweat Bee, Lunate Longhorn-cuckoo Bee, Xylocopa virginica virginica, Svastra atripes, Coelioxys dolichos, Two-banded Cellophane-cuckoo Bee, Bombus vagans vagans, Coelioxys octodentata, Coelioxys modesta, Coelioxys alternata, Ceratina sp., Bombus sp., Megachile pyrrhothorax, Drury's Long-horned Bee, Pseudopanurgus labrosiformis, Svastra obliqua, Coelioxys brevis, Pseudopanurgus rugosus, Coelioxys germana, Triepeolus concavus, Two-spotted Miner Bee
Butterflies Monarch

also Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Red Admiral, Pearl Crescent +44 more
Common Buckeye, Fiery Skipper, Silver-spotted Skipper, Pipevine Swallowtail, Gray Hairstreak, American Lady, Orange Sulphur, Eastern Tailed-Blue, Great Spangled Fritillary, Variegated Fritillary, Spicebush Swallowtail, Common Checkered-Skipper and Allies, Zabulon Skipper, Clouded Sulphur, Cloudless Sulphur, Eastern Black Swallowtail, Peck's Skipper, Checkered White, Horace's Duskywing, Common Ringlet, Dun Skipper, Dainty Sulphur, Woodland Skipper, Least Skipper, Wild Indigo Duskywing, American Copper, Tawny-edged Skipper, Little Glassywing, Purplish Copper, Common Sootywing, Broad-winged Skipper, Midsummer Tiger Swallowtail, Hickory Hairstreak, Arogos Skipper, Plains Branded Skipper, Bell's Roadside-Skipper, Panoquina panoquin, Panoquina ocola, Abaeis nicippe, Cyaniris neglecta, Wallengrenia egeremet, Euphydryas phaeton, Silvery Checkerspot, Leonard's Skipper
Flower flies Margined Calligrapher

also Eastern Calligrapher, Common Drone Fly, Transverse-banded Flower Fly +26 more
Oblique Streaktail, Long-tailed Aphideater, Thick-legged Hover Fly, Eurasian Drone Fly, Yellow-shouldered Drone Fly, Black-margined Flower Fly, Eastern Hornet Fly, American Snout Fly, Band-winged Bee Fly, Bald-faced Hornet Fly, Hunchbacked Bee Fly, Exoprosopa fasciata, Common Flower Fly, Adorned Bee Fly, Poecilanthrax tegminipennis, Paravilla separata, Bombylius atriceps, Eurasian Smoothwing, Bombylius pulchellus, Bombylius mexicanus, Poecilanthrax alcyon, Aster Bee Fly, Epistrophella emarginata, Bald Bee Fly, grasshopper bee fly, Geron rufipes
Also visited by
- Beetles:
  
  Asian Lady Beetle, Seven-spotted Lady Beetle +20 more
  Convergent Lady Beetle, Red Milkweed Beetle, Goldenrod Soldier Beetle, Common Green June Beetle, Margined Leatherwing Beetle, Oriental Beetle, Locust Borer, Fourteen-spotted Lady Beetle, Polished Lady Beetle, Two-spotted Lady Beetle, Variegated Lady Beetle, Yellow-horned Flower Longhorn Beetle, Pubescent Tumbling Flower Beetle, Blistered Tumbling Flower Beetle, Thin-tailed Longhorned Beetle, Hemierana marginata, Mournful Long-horned Beetle, Japanese Beetle, Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus, Chlorophorus glaucus
- Moths:
  
  Salt Marsh Moth, Large Yellow Underwing +18 more
  Elegant Grass-veneer, Yellow-collared Scape Moth, Ipsilon Dart Moth, Master's Dart, Dingy Cutworm Moth, White-striped Black, Carrot Seed Moth, Celery Looper Moth, Police Car Moth, Common Grass-veneer, Subgothic and Tricose Darts, Ragweed Flower Moth, Common Eupithecia Moth, Ithaca Clearwing Moth, Olive-shaded Bird-dropping Moth, Blackberry Looper Moth, Celery Leaftier Moth, Lycaena hyllus
- Wasps:
  
  Eastern Yellowjacket, Perennial Mason Wasp +5 more
  European tube wasp, Euodynerus hidalgo boreoorientalis, Parancistrocerus leionotus, Hidalgo Mason Wasp, Vespula vidua
- Hummingbirds: Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Butterflies that use this plant

Documented host and nectar records. Each links to a planting guide for that butterfly.

Full plant details

Where it grows

Habitat: PrairieThe wild plant community it grows in.
Native range: Much of the USA and southern CanadaUnited States (35): AL, AR, CO, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, WV. Canada (4): MB, ON, QC, SK. Where it grows wild on its own, by state and province.
Native distribution: Southern Quebec to Florida, west to southeastern British Columbia and New Mexico; naturalized northeastwardThe same native range, usually more exact than the state list, and often noting where it has spread beyond it.

Growing conditions

Light: Full sun to part shadeHow much sun it takes, from full sun to full shade.
Moisture: DryThe soil dampness it prefers, from dry to wet.
Hardiness zones: USDA 3–8 · Canadian 3–7The cold-to-heat climate range it survives.
Soil: Sandy soilsThe soils it grows in naturally.
Soil texture: Light to heavy (sandy to clay)The soil grade it prefers, from sand to clay.
Soil pH: Mildly acid to mildly alkalineThe acidity to alkalinity it tolerates (7 is neutral).
Water use: LowHow thirsty it is, a rough guide to how often to water.

Growth & form

Height: up to 5 ft (to 1.5 m)Typical mature height.
Spread: ~4 ft (1.2 m)How wide one plant gets, a guide to spacing.
Life cycle: PerennialWhether it lives a single season (annual), two (biennial), or returns for years (perennial).
Growth rate: RapidA relative ranking versus other plants of the same type (USDA), not an absolute rate.

Flowers, foliage & fruit

Type: WildflowerWhat kind of plant it is.
Bloom: Jun–SepWhen it flowers.
Flower color: YellowThe bloom color, or colors.
Fruit/Seeds: ripens Jul–OctThe seed or fruit it sets after flowering.
Toxicity: None knownWhether any part is poisonous to people or pets.