Prairie Dock
Silphium terebinthinaceum
Found in mafic or calcareous glades, barrens, woodlands, prairies, and roadsides and powerline-rights-of-ways with remnant historical vegetation of those types. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- 4–10 feet
- Spread
- 1–3 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat 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?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
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- July to September
Recorded in 1 Virginia county.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
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.
Forest or woodland where the source does not say how moist or dry.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food. 61 animals.
- American GoldfinchCarduelis tristis
- American KestrelFalco sparverius
- American RobinTurdus migratorius
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black VultureCoragyps atratus
- Black-and-White WarblerMniotilta varia
- Black-capped ChickadeePoecile atricapillus
- Blue GrosbeakPasserina caerulea
- Blue JayCyanocitta cristata
- Blue-gray GnatcatcherPolioptila caerulea
- Brown CreeperCerthia americana
- Brown ThrasherToxostoma rufum
- Brown-headed NuthatchSitta pusilla
- Cedar WaxwingBombycilla cedrorum
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Chipping SparrowSpizella passerina
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Common RavenCorvus corax
- Common YellowthroatGeothlypis trichas
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Dark-eyed JuncoJunco hyemalis
- Double-crested CormorantPhalacrocorax auritus
- Downy WoodpeckerPicoides pubescens
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
Who uses this plant?
5CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Silphium
- Eucosma giganteanaGiant Eucosma
- Hydraecia immanisHop Borer, Hop Vine Borer
- Papaipema baptisiaeWild Indigo Borer, Indigo Stem Borer
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Tricholita notataX
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 claimFlies 1
- Systoechus vulgaris
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Other wasps 1
- Sphex procera
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Adult butterflies / moths · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–8b
- Flower color
- Yellow
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to September” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Hardiness · “Zones 4a–8b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “4–10 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Minnesota Wildflowers, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide
- Soil · “Moist; Occasionally dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Spread · “1–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4G5 |
| 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
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- 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