Heart-leaved Alexanders

Zizia aptera

Pollinator Value

🐛 Larval Host: Papaipema rigida, Papilio polyxenes, Eupithecia miserulata
S13+S15 3 verified Eastern NA
🐝 Specialist Bee Host: Andrena ziziae
S17 Andrena (Micrandrena) ziziae, specialist on Zizia

Proximity Score: 0
Native Status: ❌ Outaouais ❌ Ottawa ❌ QC ✅ ON
Closest Direction: Local
CEC Eco-Regions: 5 – Northern Forests, 5.2 – Mixed Wood Shield, 5.2.3 – Algonquin/Southern Laurentians
Rarity Notes: Critically Imperiled (S1) in Ontario with very few known occurrences. Globally secure (G5) across its wide North American range. Not listed under SARA or COSEWIC. Very rare and local in Michigan on dry shaded bluffs and gravelly ridges. In Ontario, GBIF records include only 4 specimens in ecoregion 5.2.3.
S22 S26 S7 S48
Rarity Ranks: QC SNA – Not Applicable, ON S1 – Critically Imperiled
Migration: Stable
Ecological Context: Inhabits moist to dry prairies, open woods, rocky upland woodlands, limestone glades, and bluffs. Typically found on calcareous substrates including limestone cobble ridges. In New England, notable for occurring on Native American shell middens. Generally occupies drier sites than its congener Zizia aurea.
S29 S61 S7 S4

Roles: Fortress/Barrier, Pollinator Attractor
S73/S29/S72 Evidence: Fortress/Barrier: S61 keyword match: thorns? (supporting signal only)] | Pollinator Attractor: S73 [MEDIUM]: S68 5 bee associations (threshold=3)]

Category: Vulnerary, Febrifuge
S29 wound-healing and fever uses documented for genus Zizia
Notes: PFAF rates medicinal value as 1 out of 5. The secondary compound apterin has been identified in Zizia species. Related Zizia aurea roots were used by Native Americans as a tea to cure fevers and as a vulnerary (wound-healing) agent. No specific ethnobotanical uses recorded for Z. aptera itself in Moerman's database.
S29 S28

❌ Not Edible

Foraging Notes: No edible uses documented. PFAF rates edibility as 0 out of 5 with no known edible parts.
S29