Plains coreopsis is a showy wildflower with a long bloom-time (summer through frost). It is native to the south-central US, but it has naturalized elsewhere, including North Carolina. It prefers light, sandy soil but is tolerant of poor soil, drought, and heat and is commonly found in dry fields, roadsides, waste places, and pastures. It requires good drainage and should be watered lightly as it does not tolerate "wet feet." Resistant to deer browsing and heat. It is a great plant for sunny, hard-to-water areas. It will self-seed to any open, bare ground. Remove faded flowers to prevent excessive self-seeding and promote reblooming. This is a good cut flower and is particularly attractive in mass plantings as it does best when crowded. Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No significant problems
Source: NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox ↗Reconciled to full toolbox: matched by slug to slug 'coreopsis-tinctoria'. Identity (id/common/scientific name) preserved from the original 87-plant Hunnicutt set; attribute data refreshed from the 59-attribute toolbox scrape.
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)
Soil texture
Loam (Silt); Sand; Shallow Rocky
Soil pH
Acid (<6.0); Alkaline (>8.0); Neutral (6.0-8.0)
Soil drainage
Good Drainage | Moist | Occasionally Dry
Available space
Less than 12 inches
NC region
Coastal; Mountains; Piedmont
Mature size
Height: 2 ft. 0 in. - 4 ft. 0 in. | Width: 1 ft. 0 in. - 1 ft. 6 in.
Growth rate
Rapid
Maintenance
Low
Canopy layer
4 - Herbaceous (3-15 ft)
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Clumping; Erect; Multi-stemmed; Spreading
Leaf color
Green
Leaf type
Compound (Pinnately , Bipinnately, Palmately)
Leaf arrangement
Opposite
Leaf shape
Lanceolate; Linear
Leaf margin
Entire
Leaf feel
Smooth
Leaf size
1-3 inches long
Hairs present
No
Leaf detail
opposite, highly dissected pinnately compound leaves with linear segments
Flower color
Brown/Copper; Gold/Yellow; Red/Burgundy
Flower value
Good Cut; Long Bloom Season; Showy
Flower form
Head
Flower shape
Radial
Flower size
1-3 inches
Flower detail
Notched, yellow petals with reddish-brown color at base; reddish-purple disks
Bloom time
Fall; Spring; Summer
Fruit color
Black
Fruit type
Achene
Fruit size
< 1 inch long, < 1 inch wide
Fruit detail
small, flattened, single winged black achene less than 1/8 inch in size with linear to oblong shape and smooth surface.
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Native
Origin
Canada to Eastern Mexico.
Distribution
naturalized through most of US excluding Nevada, Utah and New Hampshire
Wildlife value
Source of nectar for pollinators, including long-tongued bees, short-tongued bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, skippers, and beetles. The leaf beetle, Calligrapha californica, feeds on the foliage.
Attracts
Butterflies; Pollinators
Play value
Attractive Flowers; Attracts Pollinators
Food & Medicine
Harvest time
Summer
Fruit type
Achene
Uses (ethnobotany)
Native Americans used root tea for diarrhea and as an emetic. Flowers boiled in water used as a tea to strengthen the blood and for internal pains and bleeding. It was also used as a source of yellow and red dyes.