Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa)
This awesome-looking wildflower is underutilized in the home landscape! It is the larval host to several Sulphur butterflies and it attracts a ton of native bees, primarily bumblebees, and sweat bees. Wild Senna’s pollen is a highly nutritious food that contains protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals (Xerces.org). The seeds may also be eaten by some upland gamebirds, particularly the Bobwhite. An added bonus is that mammalian herbivores usually avoid consumption of the foliage, which has purgative properties (illinoiswildflowers.info). Wild Senna is considered threatened or endangered in the Northeastern U.S., just another good reason to add it to your landscape.
This awesome-looking wildflower is underutilized in the home landscape! It is the larval host to several Sulphur butterflies and it attracts a ton of native bees, primarily bumblebees, and sweat bees. Wild Senna’s pollen is a highly nutritious food that contains protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals (Xerces.org). The seeds may also be eaten by some upland gamebirds, particularly the Bobwhite. An added bonus is that mammalian herbivores usually avoid consumption of the foliage, which has purgative properties (illinoiswildflowers.info). Wild Senna is considered threatened or endangered in the Northeastern U.S., just another good reason to add it to your landscape.
This awesome-looking wildflower is underutilized in the home landscape! It is the larval host to several Sulphur butterflies and it attracts a ton of native bees, primarily bumblebees, and sweat bees. Wild Senna’s pollen is a highly nutritious food that contains protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals (Xerces.org). The seeds may also be eaten by some upland gamebirds, particularly the Bobwhite. An added bonus is that mammalian herbivores usually avoid consumption of the foliage, which has purgative properties (illinoiswildflowers.info). Wild Senna is considered threatened or endangered in the Northeastern U.S., just another good reason to add it to your landscape.
Life Cycle: Perennial
Sun Exposure: Full, Partial
Soil Moisture: Medium-wet, Medium, Medium-dry
Height: 5 feet
Plant Spacing: 2-2.5 feet
Bloom Time: July-August
Bloom Color: Yellow
Advantages: Pollinator Favorite, Deer Resistant, Recommended but vigorous
Host Plant: Cloudless Sulphur, Orange-barred Sulphur, Sleepy Orange butterfly and 4 other species of butterflies and moths use this as a caterpillar host plant (nwf.org) (xerces.org)(butterfliesandmoths.org)
