Prairie Dock
Silphium terebinthinaceum
Found in mafic or calcareous glades, barrens, woodlands, prairies, and roadsides and powerline-rights-of-ways with remnant historical vegetation of those types. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- 4–10 feet
- Spread
- 1–3 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to moist
Space about 2 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 25 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- July to September
Recorded in 9 Alabama counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
Glades, barrens and outcrops on mafic or serpentine rock
Open, thin-soil openings, outcrops and cliffs on dark, magnesium- or iron-rich rock such as serpentine, diabase or gabbro.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Alabama. Shared habitat, not food. 75 animals.
- American GoldfinchCarduelis tristis
- American KestrelFalco sparverius
- American RobinTurdus migratorius
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Blue GrosbeakPasserina caerulea
- Blue JayCyanocitta cristata
- Blue-gray GnatcatcherPolioptila caerulea
- Brown CreeperCerthia americana
- Brown ThrasherToxostoma rufum
- Cedar WaxwingBombycilla cedrorum
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Chipping SparrowSpizella passerina
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Dark-eyed JuncoJunco hyemalis
- Double-crested CormorantPhalacrocorax auritus
- Downy WoodpeckerPicoides pubescens
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- European StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Golden-crowned KingletRegulus satrapa
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Hairy WoodpeckerPicoides villosus
- Hooded MerganserLophodytes cucullatus
- Mourning DoveZenaida macroura
Who uses this plant?
3CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL
Genus host records with ranges including AL · Silphium
- Eucosma giganteanaGiant Eucosma
- Papaipema baptisiaeWild Indigo Borer, Indigo Stem Borer
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
36BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Silphium
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
7Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Silphium
- Dianthidium curvatum
- Dieunomia heteropoda
- Megachile parallela
- Melissodes dentiventris
- Melissodes vernoniae
- Melissodes wheeleri
- Paranthidium jugatorium
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimFlies 1
- Systoechus vulgaris
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Other wasps 1
- Sphex procera
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Adult butterflies / moths · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–8b
- Flower color
- Yellow
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to September” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Hardiness · “Zones 4a–8b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “4–10 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Minnesota Wildflowers, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide
- Soil · “Moist; Occasionally dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Spread · “1–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4G5 |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: South Central (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- 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