Summary ⁷

Eutrochium purpureum ( kidney-root, sweetscented joe pye weed, sweet Joe-Pye weed, gravel root, or trumpet weed) is a herbaceous perennial plant in the sunflower family. It is native to eastern and central North America, from Ontario east to New Hampshire and south as far as Florida, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

Description ⁸

Eutrochium purpureum is a clump-forming herb that grows to 1.5–2.4 meters (4.9–7.9 ft) tall and about 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) wide. Plants are found in full sun to part shade in mesic to wet soils. Stems are upright, thick, round, and purple, with whorls of leaves at each node. As the plant begins to bloom the stems often bend downward under the weight of the flowers. The leaves grow to 30 cm (12 in) long and have a somewhat wrinkled texture. The purplish flowers are produced in large loose, convex shaped compound corymbiform arrays. Plants bloom mid to late summer and attract much activity from insects that feed on the nectar produced by the flowers.

Similar Species ⁷

Hollow Joe Pye weed (E. fistulosum), Spotted Joe Pye weed (E. maculatum), Steele's Joe Pye weed (E. stele).

Purple Joe Pye weed hybridizes readily with other species of Eutrochium and where this species and those species overlap in distribution the resulting plants can be difficult to resolve to a specific taxon. There are two varieties that differ in the pubescence of the stems and foliage, but many more have been proposed in the past, though most authorities now accept that this is a variable species and population variations integrate.

Ecology/Wildlife Use ⁸

Many species of butterflies, moths, bees, and flies visit the flowers.

It is larval host to the eupatorium borer moth (Carmenta bassiformis), the red groundling moth (Perigea xanthioides), the ruby tiger moth (Phragmatobia fuliginosa), and the three-lined flower moth (Schinia trifascia).

The larvae of Calycomyza flavinotum, a leaf miner fly, create blotch-shaped mines on the leaves.

Read More ⁹

• https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=c740
• https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/savanna/plants/sw_joepye.htm
• https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=EUPU21

Sources and Credits

1. (c) H. Zell, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eutrochium_purpureum_002.JPG
2. (c) Plenuska, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wasserdost_Pflanze,_Wasserhanf,_Kunigundenkraut,_lat-_Eupatorium_Purpureum.jpg
3. (c) outdoorsie, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
4. (c) Pat Deacon, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Pat Deacon
5. (c) Suzanne Cadwell, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Suzanne Cadwell
6. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eupatorium_purpureum2.jpg
7. Adapted by Murfreesboro,TN, Natural Resource Division from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutrochium_purpureum
8. Adapted by Lauren LeCroy May from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutrochium_purpureum
9. Adapted by Murfreesboro,TN, Natural Resource Division from a work by (c) Lauren LeCroy May, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• Go Botany
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• Maryland Biodiversity Project
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• VASCAN by Canadensys
• World Flora Online

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