Wand River Hemp
Sesbania virgata
Found in disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
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At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 1 Alabama county.
Habitats
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
15CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL
Genus host records with ranges including AL · Sesbania
- Anavitrinella pampinariaCommon Gray, Cranberry Spanworm
- Anticarsia gemmatalisVelvetbean Caterpillar Moth
- Colias eurythemeOrange Sulphur, Alfalfa Butterfly
- Elasmopalpus lignosellaLesser Cornstalk Borer
- Gesta baptisiaeWild Indigo Duskywing, Baptisia Duskywing
- Gesta zaruccoZarucco Duskywing
- Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
- Iridopsis defectariaBrown-Shaded Gray, Willow Looper
- Iridopsis humariaSmall Purplish Gray
- Platynota flavedanaBlack-Shaded Platynota
Show all 15
- Platynota rostranaOmnivorous Platynota
- Selenisa sueroidesTailpipes, Pale-Edged Selenisa Moth
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
- Urbanus proteusLong-Tailed Skipper, Bean Leaf Roller
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
4BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Sesbania
- Colinus virginianusNorthern Bobwhite
- Francolinus francolinusBlack Francolin
- Zenaida asiaticaWhite-winged Dove
- Zenaida macrouraMourning Dove
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | Not available |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- FloraQuest: South Central (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications