Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) — Plotwright

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Boneset

Habit (mature) · Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Limited coverage

Boneset

Eupatorium perfoliatum

A large, hairy, clump-forming North American native perennial of wet meadows, low woods, stream banks, and prairies. Its most distinctive feature is the perfoliate foliage — pairs of wrinkled, opposite, lance-shaped leaves whose bases fuse around the hairy stem, so the stem appears to pass through the leaf. From July to September, flat-topped clusters of small, fluffy white flowers feed a wide range of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, while all parts of the plant are toxic and bitter.

Native: 38 US states + 6 CA provinces

Review: Source-backed

Climate fit: broad (83/100)

Structure

Pollinator

Border

Light

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Water

Consistent moisture

Mature size

48-72" tall · 36" apart

Hardy in zones

3a-8b

brutally cold to frosty winters

Summer heat range

Cool-Hot

cool to hot summers Interim Plotwright tier until the plant AHS range is authored.

Native in Illinois

Yes

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Native across 44 US states and Canadian provinces — a wide-ranging part of North America's plant communities.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Cold hardiness

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Chicago, IL · 1991-2020 average annual coldest day

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7b

Plotwright

Your zone + climate-model shift · SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry)

Well-suited

In plain terms: cold winters — coldest nights typically around -3°F.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

°C

°F

Loading current AHS heat-zone and plant heat-fit data at your coordinates…

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 40 ecoregions — 35 climate-resilient through 2070 · 5 suited today. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

Arizona Mountains forests

Blue Mountains forests

Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

Central Tallgrass prairie

Central-Southern Cascades Forests

Colorado Rockies forests

Cross-Timbers savanna-woodland

Pollination

Self-incompatible

Insect-pollinated like other Eupatorium. The flat-topped clusters of fluffy white flowers produce abundant late-summer nectar that draws a wide range of bees, butterflies, flies, and wasps; the Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder lists the species as attracting butterflies, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center records it as a nectar source with special value to native bees.

Plants don't grow alone

Nectar forage

Bee

American bumblebee (Bombus pensylvanicus)

USDA Forest Service pollinator-of-the-month names boneset (Eupatorium) explicitly as a B. pensylvanicus forage plant.

Nectar forage

Butterfly

Great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

Nectar forage

Butterfly

Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Nectar forage

Other

Green lacewings (Chrysopidae)

Nectar forage

Fly

Hover flies (flower flies) (Syrphidae)

Nectar forage

Bee

European honeybee (Apis mellifera)

Honey bees work the abundant late-summer nectar of the white flower clusters; boneset is a well-documented honey-plant of wet meadows and a nectar source per the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Nectar forage

Bee

Common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens)

Bumble bees are frequent visitors to the nectar-rich corymbs; the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags boneset as having special value to native bees.

Nectar forage

Bee

Sweat bees (Lasioglossum spp.)

Small sweat bees and other native bees forage the shallow flowers; the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists boneset as a plant of special value to native bees and supporting conservation biological control.

Nectar forage

Butterfly

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

Late-summer nectar for migrating butterflies; the Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder lists boneset as attracting butterflies, though it names no specific species, so the monarch association is inferred from the documented butterfly-nectar value rather than a species-level citation.

Pollen forage

Bee

Leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.)

Pollen forage

Bee

Long-horned bees (Melissodes spp.)

Seed forage

Bird

Downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)

For people

Toxic — do not consume

All parts of the plant are quite toxic and bitter (Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder). Historically boneset was included in medical herb gardens and used as a folk medicine for flus, fevers, and colds, but it is not a food plant and is not recommended for ingestion — modern toxicology associates Eupatorium perfoliatum with hepatotoxic compounds.

Toxic parts

leaves, stems, flowers

Sources & citations

Cite this page

For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.

Plotwright. (2026, May 17). Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum). Retrieved 2026, June 5, from https://plotwright.garden/plants/boneset

Sources for every fact

Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited — 18 source-backed.

Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder

Botanical research database

Backs 17 fields

Identity

Summary

Plant type

Light

Moisture

Hardiness

Heat zone

Size

Spacing

Habit

Design roles

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Wikimedia Commons

Photo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Backs 1 field

Image

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Database

Botanical research database

Community photos

The photos above are our reviewed reference set, curated for accuracy.

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