Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.)
↑Range - Expand
Legend | Color |
Native | |
Expanded | |
Native or Not Present | |
Native or Expanded | |
Native or Expanded or Not Present |
This tentative map is based on our own research. It may have limited data on Canada and/or Mexico, and there is some subjectivity in our assignment of plants as introduced vs. expanded. Read more in this blog post.
This species is widely cultivated for many purposes, as an ornamental, for biomass for energy production, as fodder, and in the US in native plant plantings. It frequently spreads from plantings, leading it to establish populations northeast of its native range. Because these new populations are contiguous with the native range, we mark them expanded.
↑Description & Identification
Although cup plant superficially resembles many plants of the Heliantheae or sunflower tribe at a glance, it is easily distinguished from visually-similar plants by its perfoliate leaves that form a distinct cup where the stem passes through them.
↑Links & External Resources
• Silphium perfoliatum (Cup Plant) | Illinois Wildflowers (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum (cup plant) | USDA PLANTS Database (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum | Go Botany (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum (Cup Plant) | Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum | CABI Invasive Species Compendium (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum | Biota of North America Project (BONAP) (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum | NatureServe Explorer (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum | Flora of North America (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum | Missouri Plants (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum (Cup Plant) | Minnesota Wildflowers (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum L. (Cup Plant) | Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum L. var. connatum (L.) Cronq (Cup Plant) | Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora (About This Site)
• Silphium perfoliatum L. var. perfoliatum (Cup Plant) | Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora (About This Site)