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 What do "small," "medium" and "large" numbers mean?
They refer to how many insects were collected per meter square in a 30 second sample. Small means less than 2 insects; medium indicates 2 to 10 insects, and large suggests greater than 10 insects.

home> native plant fact sheets> common boneset

Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
Common boneset
 Eupatorium perfoliatum L.

Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae (aster)
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native

Natural Enemies Attracted: Large numbers of Orius insidiousus, Plagiognathus politus , Chalcidoidea, and Cantharidae. Medium numbers of Thomisidae and Cynipoidea. Small numbers of Sphecidae, Empididae, Coccinellidae, Salticidae, Braconidae and Nabidae.

Pests Attracted: Large numbers of lygus bugs. Medium numbers of leaf beetles and weevils. Small numbers of thrips, leafhoppers and aphids.

Bees attracted: Moderate numbers (between 1-5 bees per meter square in a 30 second sample) of bees including sweat bees, small carpenter bees, digger bees, and bumble bees.

Species Notes: White, flat flower clusters grew on plants 3-5 ft tall. These plants filled in well and the floral display was prolific, with a solid carpet of white at plant tops when in full bloom. Plants bloomed from August through early September, peaking in the end of August. In addition to a large number of natural enemies, many other insects were seen at these, including moths and butterflies. This was the most attractive species in the late season and the entire season to natural enemies, with 20 times more natural enemies than the grass control.
About the Plant Species Graph: Average number of beneficial insects collected at each plant species the week before, during, and after peak bloom, for plant species blooming from mid-August through early October (+ standard error). Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) boxed in red. Bars for natural enemies are in green, bars for bees are in yellow. Bars for native plants are solid and nonnative plants are striped. The black line on the top graph shows the number of natural enemies in grass with no flowering plants (grass control). Plants are listed in order of peak bloom. graph

Habitat: Full sun to partial shade, and fairly dry to very wet locations. Naturally occurring in a variety of moist habitats, including marshes, swales, wet fields, fens, shores, thickets, low clearings, and on river and stream banks.

Cultivation and Management: Can be grown from seed (flowers in second or third year) or plug material (flowers in first or second year). We saw no evidence of deer or other vertebrate browsing on this species.

Availability: Species is available as seed, plug or container grown material from various native plant nurseries. Michigan Native Plant Producers Association

For more information: USDA-NRCS PLANTS database

This fact sheet prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Please note: The information presented at this web site should be considered a guideline to be adapted for your situation. MSU makes no warranty about the use of the information presented here. Read disclaimer.
Web site information prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Rufus Isaacs and Julianna Tuell, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Funding support: USDA SARE with Project GREEEN, the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU Extension, and the MSU IPM Program.
Web developer: J.N. Landis, MSU IPM Program. Updated: 11/21/06