Maritime Thoroughwort
Eupatorium maritimum
Found in dune swales, other moist to wet areas on barrier islands. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 59%
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to wet
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Bloom
- August to October
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Life cycle · Leaves
Height: NC species account not read yet.
Spread, life cycle and leaves: no source found yet.
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 3 Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Who uses this plant?
40CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Eupatorium
- Agonopterix pulvipennellaGoldenrod Leaffolder, Featherduster Agonopterix
- Anavitrinella pampinariaCommon Gray, Cranberry Spanworm
- Carmenta bassiformisEupatorium Borer Moth, Ironweed Clearwing Moth
- Carmenta pyralidiformisBoneset Borer Moth
- Celastrina neglectaSummer Azure
- Chlorochlamys chloroleucariaBlackberry Looper Moth
- Chrysodeixis includensSoybean Looper Moth
- Cisseps fulvicollisYellow-Collared Scape Moth
- Condica vecorsDusky Groundling
- Dichomeris setosellaHairy Dichomeris
Show all 40
- Digrammia continuataCurve-Lined Angle
- Dysodia oculatanaEyed Thyris
- Estigmene acreaSalt Marsh Moth, Acrea Moth
- Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
- Feltia subgothicaSubgothic Dart
- Feltia tricosaConfused Dart, Tricose Dart
- Haploa clymeneClymene Moth
- Leucospilapteryx venustellaSnakeroot Leafminer
- Oedemasia concinnaRed-Humped Caterpillar, Red-Humped Appleworm
- Oidaematophorus eupatoriiEupatorium Plume Moth
- Orthodes majusculaRustic Quaker, Rustic Groundcat
- Ostrinia obumbratalisSmartweed Borer
- Papaipema cataphractaBurdock Border, Potato-Stalk Borer
- Papaipema eupatoriiJoe-Pye Weed Borer, Eupatorium Borer Moth
- Papaipema harrisiiHeracleum Stem Borer Moth, Cow Parsnip Borer
- Perigea xanthioidesRed Groundling
- Platynota flavedanaBlack-Shaded Platynota
- Platynota rostranaOmnivorous Platynota
- Pleuroprucha insulsariaCommon Tan Wave
- Schinia trifasciaThree-Lined Flower Moth
- Spoladea recurvalisHawaiian Beet Webworm
- Synchlora aerataWavy-Lined Emerald, Camouflaged Looper
- Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
- Tornos scolopacinariaDimorphic Gray
- Agonopterix atrodorsella
- Agonopterix eupatoriiella
- Chionodes pseudofondella
- Dichomeris washingtoniella
- Dichrorampha leopardana
- Niasoma metallicana
34BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Eupatorium
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
2Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Eupatorium
- Colletes simulans
- Megachile xylocopoides
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Eupatorium
- Ortalis vetulaPlain Chachalaca
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
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “August to October” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Light · “Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Dry; Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G2? |
| VA 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
- Virginia DCR Natural Heritage rare plant list
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- 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