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
Native to West 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 8 West Virginia counties.
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
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.
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.
Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.
Places where groundwater keeps the soil or rock wet, such as seepage slopes and spring runs.
Forested wetlands with standing water much of the year, such as cypress and gum swamps.
Who uses this plant?
35CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · Physocarpus
- Achatia distinctaDistinct Quaker
- Antepione thisoariaVariable Antepione
- Automeris ioIo Moth
- Celastrina luciaLucia Azure
- 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
- Eupsilia morrisoniMorrison's Sallow
Show all 35
- 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
- Macaria exauspicataSpeckled Granite
- 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
- Xylena curvimaculaDot-and-Dash Swordgrass Moth
- Macaria abruptata
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
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
- ROSACEAE
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | S4 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5T5 |
| WV 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
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition
- West Virginia 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