Common Wild Quinine
Parthenium hysterophorus
Found in disturbed areas. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Mississippi. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 18%
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to moist
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 9 Mississippi counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
22CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS
Genus host records with ranges including MS · Parthenium
- Achyra rantalisGarden Webworm Moth
- Agrotis ipsilonIpsilon Dart, Black Cutworm, Greasy Cutworm
- Chlorochlamys chloroleucariaBlackberry Looper Moth
- Chrysodeixis includensSoybean Looper Moth
- Condica sutorThe Cobbler, Cobbler Groundling
- Cyclophora nanariaDwarf Tawny Wave
- Epiblema strenuanaRagweed Borer
- Estigmene acreaSalt Marsh Moth, Acrea Moth
- Heliothis phloxiphagaSpotted Straw Sun Moth, Darker Spotted Straw Moth
- Hellinsia inquinatusBlack-Marked Plume Moth
Show all 22
- Hyphantria cuneaFall Webworm
- Ogdoconta cinereolaCommon Pinkband Groundling
- Platynota flavedanaBlack-Shaded Platynota
- Platynota rostranaOmnivorous Platynota
- Platynota stultanaOmnivorous Leafroller
- Pleuroprucha asthenariaAsthene Wave
- Pleuroprucha insulsariaCommon Tan Wave
- Rachiplusia ouGray Looper
- Spragueia guttataSpotted Spragueia
- Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Carmenta ithacae
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
1Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Parthenium
- Andrena gardineri
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimPlant details
- Family
- ASTERACEAE
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Mississippi rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| MS status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- NatureServe Explorer
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- Mississippi 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