Common Ninebark

Physocarpus opulifolius var. opulifolius

Found in stream banks, riverside thickets and scour prairies, rock outcrops, cliffs, fens, seepage swamps, especially over mafic or calcareous rocks. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you

Strong

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

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At a glance

Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 63 Virginia counties.

Natural habitats

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

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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.

Barrens grassland after a prescribed fire. Shown: Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, a neighboring state.Barrens native plants returning after prescribed fire, September 2020, NPS Photo / Rick Olson, September 2020. Public domain. Source record.

Named place / source context. Shown: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia and Tennessee; which part is not recorded, a neighboring state.Wooded scene looking out over partially open fields, Richard Schlecht, undated. Public domain. Source record.

Limestone cedar glade. Shown: Pennyroyal Plain, Simpson County, Kentucky, a neighboring state.Cedar glade in the Pennyroyal Plain, Simpson County, Mason Brock (Masebrock), undated. Public domain. Source record.

Groundwater seep. Shown: Gum Swamp Trail, Weymouth Woods, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Weymouth Woods Gum Swamp Trail seep, ncwetlands.org, undated. CC BY 2.0. Source record.

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.

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.

Mountain bogs and fens

Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

33CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Physocarpus

Achatia distinctaDistinct Quaker
Acleris nivisellanaApple Leaf Twister, Snowy-Shouldered Acleris
Ancylis discigeranaYellow Birch Leaffolder Moth
Antepione thisoariaVariable Antepione
Automeris ioIo Moth
Choristoneura rosaceanaOblique-Banded Leafroller Moth, Rosaceous Leaf Roller
Coelodasys unicornisUnicorn Caterpillar Moth
Erannis tiliariaLinden Looper Moth, Western Winter Moth, Lime Looper
Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
Eupithecia palpataSmall Pine Looper, Palpata Pug

Show all 33

Eupsilia morrisoniMorrison's Sallow
Eutrapela clematariaCurved-Tooth Geometer, Purplish Brown Looper
Habrosyne gloriosaGlorious Habrosyne
Herpetogramma thestealisZigzag Herpetogramma, Subtle-Feathered Grass Moth
Hyalophora cecropiaCecropia Silkmoth, Cecropia Moth
Hypagyrtis unipunctataOne-Spotted Variant
Lithophane heminaHemina Pinion
Lomographa semiclarataBluish Spring Moth, Wildcherry Looper
Lomographa vestaliataWhite Spring Moth
Melanchra adjunctaHitched Arches
Melanolophia signatariaSignate Melanolphia
Metarranthis duariaRuddy Metarranthis
Morrisonia evictaBicolored Woodgrain
Olethreutes permundanaRaspberry Leafroller
Orthosia hibisciSpeckled Green Fruitworm Moth, Speckled Green Quaker
Palthis angulalisDark-Spotted Palthis
Paonias excaecataBlinded Sphinx, Blind Eyed Sphinx
Phigalia titeaThe Half-Wing Geometer, Spiney Looper, Eastern Oak Looper
Prochoerodes lineolaLarge Maple Spanworm Moth
Synanthedon scitulaDogwood Borer, Pecan Borer
Tetracis cachexiataWhite Slant-Line
Thalera pistasciariaPistachio Emerald
Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformisEvergreen Bagworm Moth

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

2BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Physocarpus

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

0Specialist beesPollen specialists

1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

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

Melospiza melodiaSong Sparrow

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: ROSACEAE

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

Conservation status

Virginia rank	S5
Global rank	G5T5
VA status	Not verified
Federal status	Not verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

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Common Ninebark

At a glance

Natural habitats

Who uses this plant?

Plant details

Conservation status

Will it fit your yard?

Sources

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