Michigan State University

Return to home

About the project

Why native plants?

Which plants are best?

Create your own native planting

Plant fact sheets

Biological control &
Natural enemies

Pollination and bees

Field days

Publications and teaching tools

 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> cup plant

Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
Cup plant
 Silphium perfoliatum L.

Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae (aster)
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native, much of U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains

Natural Enemies Attracted: Large numbers of Chalcidoidea. Medium numbers of Orius insidiosus, Cantharidae and Plagiognathus politus. Small numbers of Salticidae, Thomisidae, Coccinellidae, Chrysopidae, Sphecidae, Dolichopodidae and Empididae.

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

Bees attracted: High numbers (more than 5 bees per meter square in a 30 second sample) of bees including sweat bees, leafcutter bees, small carpenter bees, digger bees, and bumble bees.
Species Notes: Large yellow flowers about 4 inches across are borne at the top of thick stalks up to 8 ft tall. Opposite leaves are fused and form “cups” that fill with rain and attract wildlife, including frogs, butterflies etc. Plants established well and bloomed in their second season of growth. This species bloomed throughout August and was the fourth most attractive to natural enemies in the late season, with four times as many natural enemies as in 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). Cup plant (Silphium 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: Includes full sun to partial sun, from moist to average soil moisture. Naturally occurring in floodplain woods and along river banks.

Cultivation and Management: Can be grown from seed (flowers in third year) or plug material (flowers in second year). Seed heads attractive to birds. This species may be too weedy for perennial agricultural systems.

 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