Native Plant of the week: Sylphium perfoliatum: Cup Plant

Native plants are more widely available than ever. The Cup Plant in my garden has finally come in to it's own after several years.

The Cup Plant is one of the showier native tallgrass prairie plants in America. Its height alone at over eight feet tall is enough to make it distinctive. Like many other prairie plants, its root go down five or six feet deep. The bright profusion of eighteen to forty chrome yellow blooms at the end of each of ten or more four sided stems is another eye catcher. The Cup Plant got its name from its rough textured deeply toothed leaves. At five to ten inch intervals, they join together in pairs along the stem forming a small receptacle that does hold rainwater. Perfoliatum is from the Latin for "leaf surrounding the stem so that the stem perforates the leaf". I've seen many birds come in to take a sip.

Pioneers named this plant after they were grateful to get a drink of water during their journey across the Great Plains. Although best known as a prairie plant, the Cup Plant also thrives in moist meadows, savannahs and edges of woodlands. In Michigan, it is considered endangered. In Connecticut, it's on the banned list as potentially invasive.

I love it in my garden as a specimen plant. That is, I have just one. At this size, one is enough! I do have to stake it at this time of year, which is a formidable task. I wear gloves, long sleeves and turn my shirt collar up around my face a bit, as the leaves are quite rough on my skin. Multiple stakes might be a good idea, as it is somewhat heavy.

When I stake any plant, I do it in a way that gives the plant some leeway as it grows so I avoid cutting off water circulation or cutting into the plant tissue. I do this by using wide soft material to tie the plant, and tying it loosely.