States
North CarolinaTennesseeGeorgiaSouth CarolinaKentuckyAlabamaFloridaVirginia
Menu

Coastal Plain Joe-pye-weed

Eutrochium dubium

Found in swamp forests, pocosins, small stream margins and streamheads, other wet, acidic habitats. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

85
Keystone

Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 100%

Height
3–6 feet
Spread
2–4 feet
Light
Full sun, Partial shade
Soil moisture
Usually moist

Space about 3 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 11 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count

Will it fit your yard?

At a glance

Life cycle
Perennial
Bloom
July to October
Fruiting season
Fall

Not yet recorded · Leaves

Recorded in 30 Virginia counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 3

Swamps

View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina
Named place / source context. Shown: Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretation, a neighboring state.View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

Pocosins and bay forests

Dense low pocosin
Dense low pocosin. Shown: Shaken Creek Preserve, Pender and Onslow Counties, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Dense low pocosin, Robert Thornhill, undated. CC BY 4.0. Source record.

Streams, rivers and their banks

Watauga Falls
Named place / source context. Shown: Watauga Falls, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Watauga Falls, Illustrator/engraver not confidently attributed; reproduced in Zeigler and Grosscup, The Heart of the Alleghanies (1883), 1883. Public domain. Source record.

All habitats

Care

  • Keep the soil from drying out.
Care sources
Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

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
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
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
4Specialist beesPollen specialists

Pollen specialists · Eutrochium

  • Dieunomia heteropoda
  • Megachile xylocopoides
  • Melissodes denticulatus
  • Melissodes druriellus
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
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Eupatorium

  • Ortalis vetulaPlain Chachalaca
Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

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

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Asteraceae
Hardiness
Zones 3a–9b
Soil pH
Acidic
Flower color
Pink or purple
Fruit begins
Fall
Fruit ends
Fall

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope
Also known as

Coastal Plain Joe pye weed; Eupatorium dubium; thoroughwort

Conservation status

Virginia rankS5
Global rankG5
VA statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

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.

How to check your spot

Growing cautions

For planning only; these do not change the score or Fit.

Sources