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Starry Rosinweed

Silphium asteriscus

Starry rosinweed is the smallest and most tractable of the silphiums, reaching a manageable few feet where its relatives run to ten, and it flowers from early summer well into fall rather than in one burst. Its stems and leaves are rough as sandpaper, and cut stems bleed a sticky resin that gives the genus its name and once served as a chewing gum. The taproot goes down several feet, which is why an established plant is untroubled by drought and equally untroubled by attempts to move it. Goldfinches strip the seed heads through late summer and favor silphium seed strongly enough that leaving the stalks standing is worth more than deadheading. It takes a wider range of light and moisture than most prairie forbs, from open sun to real shade at a woods edge. It never runs and holds a tidy clump for decades.

Family

Asteraceae

Type

wildflower

Lifespan

perennial

Height

2–5 ft

Spacing

1.5–3 ft apart

Light

shade, sun, part shade

Soil moisture

moist, dry

Soil pH

acidic, neutral

Bloom

June, July, August, September

Bloom colors

yellow

Wildlife value

pollinators, butterflies, songbirds

Landscape uses

border

Native states

AL, AR, FL, GA, IN, KY, LA, MO, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV