Golden Alexander Traditional Geocache

Golden Alexander is a member of the Carrot Family of Plants. These can be found on the South Hill Recreation way, between Burns Rd and Coddington Rd in Ithaca

Golden Alexander, Zizia aurea (golden alexanders, golden zizia) is a flowering perennial forb of the carrot family (Apiaceae).

This native North American flower usually ranges in height from forty centimeters to seventy five centimeters tall but can sometimes grow taller. 

Golden Alexanders blooms from May to June. Its flowers are yellow and bunched at the top of the plant. Each flower is only three millimeters long and has five sepals, five petals, and five stamens. Each flower produces a single three to four millimeter long, oblong, green fruit capsule. These fruits change color as the year goes on. Each one contains a brown seed. In the fall both the leaves and the fruit turn purple.

Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) is a food source for swallowtail butterfly larvae.

Members of the Carrot Family are easy to recognize. They all have small 5-parted flowers, usually white or yellow, arranged in clusters called umbels, i.e. individual flowers are on stalks arranged like the spokes of an umbrella. The ridged stems are hollow between the nodes; the leaves are alternate, usually divided, and the base of each leaf stalk ends in a sheath that surrounds the stem. Both the foliage and the seeds have oils that are aromatic. The family has many edible species (carrot, parsnip, celery, dill) and many that are poisonous [poison hemlock, spotted water hemlock (see the Archive), water parsnip]. While the family is easy to recognize, individual species are often not, so it's best not to consume plants in this family growing wild.  

The cache is a few yards SW of the flowers. It is a camoed big "micro" pill bottle with a rolled log held by a rubber band, plus a dry bag, all in a small zip lock plastic bag. Please BYOP and try to avoid using tweezers as they tend to kill the plastic. It is tied in. As always, please return it as you found it.