spotted Joe Pye weed

Spotted Joe Pye weed, is a perennial flowering plant native to eastern and central North America. It is the only Joe Pye weed species that occurs in the western half of North America. There are three varieties of spotted Joe Pye weed, and all of them occur in Minnesota.

Spotted Joe Pye weed is found in moist to wet habitats, including sedge meadows, marshes, fens, swampy thickets, woodland edges, lake shores, and stream banks. It grows under full sun or partial shade, in rich, silty, or sandy soil.

Spotted Joe Pye weed is often included in managed landscapes and is sometimes cultivated in gardens.

Spotted Joe Pye weed is a tall, erect plant that can reach heights of 4 to 7 feet (1.2 to 2.1 meters) or even taller. It has a robust, bushy growth habit with multiple stems arising from a single base.

The stems are erect and usually light green with purple spots but are sometimes more evenly purple.

The leaves are arranged in whorls of 3 to 6, usually 4 or 5, around the stem. The leaf blades are lance-shaped to elliptic or egg-shaped, 3″ to 10″ long, and 1″ to 3½″ wide. They have a prominent midvein, are green and dull on the upper side, and are lighter green on the underside. The margins are toothed.

The inflorescence is a branched, flat-topped or nearly flat-topped cluster of numerous pinkish-purple flower heads at the top of the stem. They bloom from July to September.

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 28, 29, 30.

Joe Pye weeds were originally assigned to the genus Eupatorium. In 1836 a French botanist (Rafinesque) separated Joe Pye weeds from that genus and proposed assigning them to the genus Eutrochium. Unaware of Rafinesque’s work, in 1970 researchers at the Smithsonian Institution (King and Robinson) proposed the genus Eupatoriadelphus for Joe Pye weeds, and it was widely adopted. In 1987, further study by the same researchers convinced them to return Joe Pye weeds to Eupatorium. In 1999 and 2000, DNA studies at the University of Tennessee (Schilling) concluded yet again that Joe Pye weeds did not belong to Eupatorium, and they were returned to the genus Eupatoriadelphus. In 2004, a contributor to the Flora of North America (Lamont), recognizing the precedence of earlier-established names, transfered the species to Eutrochium.

Location: Wetmore Park by the boardwalk Wetmore, Michigan

Location: Lake Shore, Cass County