Compass Plant
Silphium laciniatum
55
Strong
Native to Arkansas. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- 5–9 feet
- Spread
- 1.5–3 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- 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?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- June to September
JFMAMJJASOND
Not yet recorded · Leaves
Recorded in 34 Arkansas counties.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Arkansas. Shared habitat, not food. 35 animals.
Widespread birds also seen here (43)
Found in many habitats here, so not listed above.
- American Goldfinch
- American Kestrel
- American Robin
- Bank Swallow
- Black-crowned Night-heron
- Blue Grosbeak
- Brown Thrasher
- Canada Goose
- Chimney Swift
- Chipping Sparrow
- Cliff Swallow
- Common Nighthawk
- Common Yellowthroat
- Cooper's Hawk
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Eastern Bluebird
- Eastern Kingbird
- Eastern Screech-owl
- Eurasian Collared-dove
- European Starling
- Great Horned Owl
- Harris's Sparrow
- Indigo Bunting
- Mallard
- Mourning Dove
- Northern Flicker
- Northern Mockingbird
- Orchard Oriole
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Pine Siskin
- Prairie Warbler
- Purple Finch
- Red-headed Woodpecker
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Rusty Blackbird
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Tree Swallow
- Turkey Vulture
- Wild Turkey
- Yellow-breasted Chat
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
3CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AR
Genus host records with ranges including AR · Silphium
- Eucosma giganteanaGiant Eucosma
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Eucosma bipunctella
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 claimNo records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Growing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 3–8
- Flower color
- Yellow
What its natural habitat tells you
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “June to September” · Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide · Nursery cultural guide; height in flower; moisture categories retained as printed
- Flower color · “Yellow” · Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide · Nursery cultural guide; height in flower; moisture categories retained as printed
- Hardiness · “Zones 3–8” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
- Height · “5–9 feet” · Tennessee Smart Yards (ranked first; Minnesota Wildflowers, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ) · Published Tennessee growing guidance; exact cached scientific heading
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Light · “Full sun” · Tennessee Smart Yards (ranked first; Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differs) · Published Tennessee growing guidance; exact cached scientific heading
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide
- Soil · “moderately wet to dry” · Tennessee Smart Yards (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ) · Published Tennessee growing guidance; exact cached scientific heading
- Spread · “1.5–3 feet” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
Conservation status
| Arkansas rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| AR status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
In your garden
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Choose a county to begin.
Sources
- Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas (2013)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- Arkansas occurrence source
- 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