SCIENTIFIC NAME: Silphium perfoliatum
COMMON NAMES: Cup Plant, Cup Rosinweed, Indian Cup, Squarestem Rosinweed
BLOOM TIME: July, Aug, Sept
INSECT/ANIMAL INTERACTIONS:
- Long-tongued bees, butterflies, & skippers are common visitors & most important pollinators of the flowers.
- Some short-tongued bees, wasps, bee flies, & other kinds of flies also visit flowers for pollen or nectar.
- The larvae of the Gall Wasp feed within the stems of this plant.
- Underside of leaves is a magnet for red aphids that congregate in masses & provide a home for parasitic wasps, provide food for predatory insects & baby hummingbirds.
- Birds, especially goldfinches, are very fond of the seeds & drink water from the cups formed by the leaves.
- Tendency to form dense colonies provides good cover for birds to rest in leaves during heat of the day or search for insects.
- Large herbivores, like cattle, may eat the eat leaves of of immature plants.