Grand Agoseris Seeds (Agoseris grandiflora)

Yes, it looks like a dandelion, but, no, it isn’t a dandelion.

Larger (up to almost 2-feet tall!), and quite ridiculously popular with many flower visitors – including the Juba skipper (Hesperia juba), Hydaspe fritillary (Speyeria hydaspe), and gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus) butterflies which are all common nectar-seekers, as well as a quite wide-ranging group of wild bees from the imperiled western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis), the wonderfully named glittering cellophane bee (Colletes fulgidus), to several mason bees (including Osmia albolateralis and Osmia inurbana) – this is a pleasing and beguiling wildflower for people who take native habitat restoration seriously.

Tap-rooted for survival through dry times, grand agoseris can tolerate full sun or light, dappled shade, producing bright yellow flowers that senesce into tennis ball-sized pillowy pom-poms (with the fine seeds consumed by various birds). While the basal cluster of foliage is a rosette form similar to a dandelion, the leaves are much more lance-shaped, slender, and generally upright, integrating it harmoniously into swards of native grasses and other meadow vegetation.

With its extended flowering season – often going into late summer depending on the location – this can be a very useful habitat addition for providing mid-season floral resources to pollinators. Grand agoseris is native and widespread in high quality natural areas across the West, from British Columbia and western Montana, into the Great Basin, and southward into southern California. It occurs from mid-elevations down to sea level. 

Excellent in both natural habitat restoration projects as well as astute native plant gardens.

Approximately 50-seeds (0.8 grams).