wetland wildflower
Cup plant
Silphium perfoliatum
Also known as Indian Cup
Native to much of the USA and southern Canada
Southern Ontario to North Carolina, west to eastern Great Plains
- Light Full sun Sun tolerance
- Moisture Dry to wet Moisture preference
- Zones 3–8 Cold to heat range
- Bloom Jul–Sep Flowering time
- Height up to 10 ft to 3.0 m
- Life cycle Perennial Annual to perennial
In the garden
A wetland wildflower for full sun and consistently moist to wet soil. At up to 10 ft, it needs room in rain gardens, pond edges, and damp low spots. It shrugs off drought once established. Hardy in USDA zones 3–8.
Growing conditions
Light
Full sun Partial shade Full shade
Moisture
Dry Moist Wet
Hardiness zones
Find your zone:
Pollinators & wildlife
- Bees Common Eastern Bumble Bee
also Western Honey Bee, Eastern Carpenter Bee, Brown-belted Bumble Bee +184 more
Two-spotted Bumble Bee, American Bumble Bee, Ligated Furrow Bee, Tricolored Bumble Bee, Bicolored Striped Sweat Bee, Bombus fervidus, Red-belted Bumble Bee, Hunt's Bumble Bee, Two-spotted Longhorn Bee, Perplexing Bumble Bee, European Woolcarder Bee, Black-and-gold Bumble Bee, Half-black Bumble Bee, Orange-legged Furrow Bee, Southern Carpenter Bee, Lemon Cuckoo Bumble Bee, Northern Amber Bumble Bee, Brown-winged Striped Sweat Bee, Yellow-banded Bumble Bee, Carpenter-mimic Leafcutter Bee, Flat-tailed Leafcutter Bee, Sculptured Resin Bee, Golden Sweat Bee, Great Basin Bumble Bee, Rusty-patched Bumble Bee, Yellowish Cuckoo Bumble bee, Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee, Dark-veined Longhorn Bee, broad-handed leafcutter bee, Southern Plains Bumble Bee, Eastern Thistle Longhorn Bee, Pugnacious Leafcutter Bee, Western Bumble Bee, Silky Striped Sweat Bee, Unarmed Leafcutter Bee, Denticulate Longhorn Bee, Louisiana Painted-Dark bee, Bristle Sweat Bee, Slender-faced Masked Bee, Rugose-chested Sweat Bee, Eastern Miner Bee, Sunflower Mining Bee, Megachile inimica, Petulant Leafcutter Bee, Squash Longhorn-Cuckoo, Punctate Masked Bee, Cherry Mining Bee, Agile Longhorn Bee, Annulate Masked Bee, Megachile brevis, Ceratina dupla, Spot-fronted Wool-carder Bee, Hairy masked Bee, Triepeolus simplex, Experienced Sweat Bee, Lasioglossum nitidiusculum, Golden-tailed Woodborer, Osmia conjuncta, Little Masked Bee, Big-cheeked Angled-Mason, Common Masked Bee, Melissodes vernoniae, Nomada bifasciata, Large-headed Armoured-Resin bee, Buff-tailed Bumble Bee, Black Masked Bee, Spined Mason Bee, Red-tailed Bumble Bee, Large Masked Bee, Golden Furrow Bee, Melissodes coloradensis, Linsenmaier's Nomad, Lasioglossum sabulosum, Lasioglossum pleurospeculum, Lasioglossum subfulvicorne, Hylaeus glacialis, Hylaeus pfankuchi, Snowy Masked Bee, Hylaeus moricei, Andrena amieti, Lasioglossum euboeense, Lasioglossum lissonotum, Lasioglossum alpigenum, Halictus carinthiacus, Hylaeus pilosulus, Heriades crenulatus, Translucent Miner, Nomada facilis, Lasioglossum marginatum, Bare-saddled Cellophane Bee, Lasioglossum aeratum, Andrena nigroolivacea, Davies' Cellophane Bee, Andrena livens, Lasioglossum discum, Reed Yellow-face Bee, Osmia labialis, Buff-tailed Mining Bee, Hylaeus styriacus, Hylaeus difformis, Hylaeus kahri, Hylaeus alpinus, Hylaeus imparilis, Hill Cuckoo Bumble bee, Drury's Long-horned Bee, Lasioglossum majus, Lasioglossum subhirtum, Lasioglossum minutulum, Osmia rufohirta, Hylaeus gibbus, Onion Yellow-face Bee, Small Shiny Furrow Bee, Hylaeus taeniolatus, Osmia mustelina, Megachile genalis, Polished Miner, Hylaeus bifasciatus, Femoral Nomad, Lasioglossum interruptum, Hairy-saddled Cellophane Bee, Great Banded Furrow Bee, Melissodes dentiventris, Lasioglossum albocinctum, Hylaeus tyrolensis, Panurgus dentipes, Shiny Dufourea, Snowy Mason, Large Shaggy Bee, Grey-banded Mining Bee, Gredler's Masked Bee, Svastra compta, Andrena rhenana, Hylaeus euryscapus, Horned Masked Bee, Xenoglossa strenua, Forest Masked Bee, Broad-banded Nomad Bee, Halictus leucaheneus, Lasioglossum marginellum, Nomada integra, Variegated Masked Bee, Chalk Yellow-face Bee, Tree Bumble Bee, Andrena taraxaci, Common Pantaloon Bee, Small Shaggy Bee, Fringed Furrow Bee, Colletes mlokossewiczi, Eucera nigrifacies, Nomada distinguenda, Small-headed Resin Bee, White-lipped Yellow-face Bee, Short-horned Yellow-face Bee, Lasioglossum nigripes, Lasioglossum subfasciatum, White-jawed Yellow-face Bee, Lasioglossum lineare, Hylaeus paulus, Orange-vented Mason Bee, Ridge-gastered Furrow Bee, Narrowed Masked Bee, Hesperian Miner, Halictus seladonius, Megachile melanopyga, Squat Furrow Bee, Megachile flabellipes, Dotted Masked Bee, Hylaeus sinuatus, Lasioglossum lucidulum, Pseudapis diversipes, Ptilothrix bombiformis, Sunflower Burrowing-Resin bee, Giant Sweat Bee, Two-banded Cellophane-cuckoo Bee, Crenulate Armoured-Resin bee, Lunate Longhorn-cuckoo Bee, Pseudopanurgus labrosiformis, Svastra obliqua, Agapostemon viridulus, Two-spotted Miner Bee, Pseudopanurgus rugosus, Yellow-faced Miner Bee, Coelioxys germana, Triepeolus concavus - Butterflies Monarch
also Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Red Admiral, Black Swallowtail +33 more
Pearl Crescent, Fiery Skipper, Silver-spotted Skipper, Painted Lady, Pipevine Swallowtail, Gray Hairstreak, American Lady, Great Spangled Fritillary, Variegated Fritillary, Question Mark, Viceroy, Zabulon Skipper, Clouded Sulphur, Eastern Comma, Checkered White, Clouded Skipper, Dun Skipper, Least Skipper, Wild Indigo Duskywing, Little Glassywing, Common Sootywing, Aphrodite Fritillary, Broad-winged Skipper, Midsummer Tiger Swallowtail, Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper, Papilio cresphontes, Danaus plexippus plexippus, Leonard's Skipper, Limenitis arthemis arthemis, Silvery Checkerspot, Cynthia cardui, Atrytone delaware, Anosia plexippus - Flower flies Eastern Calligrapher
also Common Drone Fly, Transverse-banded Flower Fly, Oblique Streaktail +14 more
Thick-legged Hover Fly, Virginia Giant Hover Fly, Black-margined Flower Fly, Yellow-haired Sun Fly, Exoprosopa fasciata, Yellow-legged Bog Fly, Eurasian Smoothwing, Stripe-winged Drone Fly, Bald Bee Fly, Villa alternata, grasshopper bee fly, Poecilanthrax alcyon, Geron rufipes, Epistrophella emarginata - Also visited by
- Beetles:
Asian Lady Beetle, Spotted Cucumber Beetle +10 more
Goldenrod Soldier Beetle, Locust Borer, Banded Longhorn Beetle, Goldenrod Leafminer, Western Corn Rootworm, Ten-spotted Spurleg, Ornated Tumbling Flower Beetle, Emerald Euphoria, Chlorophorus glaucus, Brachiacantha quadripunctata quadripunctata - Moths:
Green Cloverworm Moth, Yellow-collared Scape Moth +7 more
Bristly Cutworm Moth, Small-eyed Sphinx, Master's Dart, Alfalfa Looper, Subgothic and Tricose Darts, Ithaca Clearwing Moth, Common Eupithecia Moth - Wasps:
Fraternal Potter Wasp, Common Aerial Yellowjacket +2 more
Hidalgo Mason Wasp, German Yellowjacket - Hummingbirds: Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- Birds: American Goldfinch
- Beetles:
Butterflies that use this plant
Documented host and nectar records. Each links to a planting guide for that butterfly.
- Gorgone checkerspotcaterpillar host
- American ladynectar
- Aphrodite fritillarynectar
- Black swallowtailnectar
- Checkered whitenectar
- Clouded sulphurnectar
- Eastern commanectar
- Eastern tiger swallowtailnectar
- Fiery skippernectar
- Giant swallowtailnectar
- Gray hairstreaknectar
- Great spangled fritillarynectar
- Monarch butterflynectar
- Painted ladynectar
- Pearl crescentnectar
- Pipevine swallowtailnectar
- Question marknectar
- Red admiralnectar
- Red-spotted purplenectar
- Silver-spotted skippernectar
- Silvery checkerspotnectar
- Variegated fritillarynectar
- Viceroynectar
Full plant details
Where it grows
- Habitat
- WetlandThe wild plant community it grows in.
- Native range
- Much of the USA and southern CanadaUnited States (26): AL, AR, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NJ, OH, OK, PA, SD, TN, VA, WI, WV. Canada (1): ON. Where it grows wild on its own, by state and province.
- Native distribution
- Southern Ontario to North Carolina, west to eastern Great PlainsThe same native range, usually more exact than the state list, and often noting where it has spread beyond it.
Growing conditions
- Light
- Full sunHow much sun it takes, from full sun to full shade.
- Moisture
- Dry to wetThe soil dampness it prefers, from dry to wet.
- Hardiness zones
- USDA 3–8 · Canadian 4–7The cold-to-heat climate range it survives.
- Soil
- Wet to mesic soils. Will tolerate clay soilThe soils it grows in naturally.
- Soil texture
- Light to heavy (sandy to clay)The soil grade it prefers, from sand to clay.
- Soil pH
- 4.5–7.5The acidity to alkalinity it tolerates (7 is neutral).
- Drought tolerance
- HighRelative to plants of the same type and region, inferred from where it grows, not a days-without-water figure.
Growth & form
- Height
- up to 10 ft (to 3.0 m)Typical mature height.
- Life cycle
- PerennialWhether it lives a single season (annual), two (biennial), or returns for years (perennial).
- Growth rate
- RapidA relative ranking versus other plants of the same type (USDA), not an absolute rate.
Flowers, foliage & fruit
- Type
- WildflowerWhat kind of plant it is.
- Bloom
- Jul–SepWhen it flowers.
- Flower color
- YellowThe bloom color, or colors.
- Fruit/Seeds
- Winged acheneThe seed or fruit it sets after flowering.
- Toxicity
- None knownWhether any part is poisonous to people or pets.
Propagation & seed
- Cold stratification
- Required (cold, moist)Whether seed needs a cold, moist spell before it will germinate.
- Propagation
- Container, seedHow to start new plants.