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What do "small," "medium" and "large" numbers mean?
They refer to how many insects were collected per meter square in a 30 second sample. Small means less than 2 insects; medium indicates 2 to 10 insects, and large suggests greater than 10 insects. |
home> native plant fact sheets> ironweed, Missouri ironweed
Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
Ironweed, Missouri ironweed
Vernonia missurica Raf. |
Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae
(aster)
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native, much of central U.S.
Natural Enemies Attracted: Large numbers of Chalcidoidea. Small numbers of Orius insidiosus,
Thomisidae,
Salticidae, Coccinellidae, Plagiognathus politus, Empididae, Chlamydatus associatus, Cynipoidea and Braconidae.
Pests Attracted: Medium numbers of lygus bugs. Small numbers of leaf beetles, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, froghoppers and tephritid fruit flies.
Bees attracted: Moderate numbers (between 1-5 bees per meter square in a 30 second sample) of bees including sweat bees, leafcutter bees, cuckoo bees, small carpenter bees, and bumble bees. |
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| Species Notes: Striking purple, feathered flowers about 1 inch across bloom in groups at the top of the plant, and plants grow 3-6 ft tall. Plants bloomed throughout August. This species was sixth most attractive to natural enemies in the late season, with three times as many natural enemies as the grass control. |
| About the Plant Species Graph: Average number of beneficial insects collected at each plant species the week before, during, and after peak bloom, for plant species blooming from mid-August through early October (+ standard error). Ironweed (Vernonia missurica) boxed in red. Bars for natural enemies are in green, bars for bees are in yellow. Bars for native plants are solid and nonnative plants are striped. The black line on the top graph shows the number of natural enemies in grass with no flowering plants (grass control). Plants are listed in order of peak bloom. |
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| Habitat: Includes full sun to partial sun, and average to very wet soils. Naturally occurring in damp areas such as river bottom woods, fens, sedge meadows, and wet prairies. May also occur in damp or dry open ground along roadsides, fencerows, fields and river banks.
Cultivation and Management: Can be grown from seed (flowers in third year) or plug material (flowers in second year).
Availability: Species is available as seed, plug or container grown material from various native plant nurseries. Michigan Native Plant Producers Association
For more information:USDA-NRCS PLANTS database |
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| This fact sheet prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Please note: The information presented at this web site should be considered a guideline to be adapted for your situation. MSU makes no warranty about the use of the information presented here. Read disclaimer. |
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