General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Full Sun to Partial Shade
Partial or Dappled Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 4a -34.4 °C (-30 °F) to -31.7 °C (-25 °F)
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 8b
Plant Height: 24 - 60 inches
Plant Spread: 18 - 30 inches
Leaves: Unusual foliage color
Fruit: Edible to birds
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: White
Bloom Size: Under 1"
Flower Time: Summer
Late summer or early fall
Underground structures: Rhizome
Uses: Water gardens
Will Naturalize
Wildlife Attractant: Bees
Birds
Butterflies
Resistances: Deer Resistant
Rabbit Resistant
Propagation: Seeds: Self fertile
Stratify seeds: 3 months at 40 degrees
Suitable for wintersowing
Can handle transplanting
Propagation: Other methods: Cuttings: Tip
Pollinators: Various insects

Image
Common names
  • Common Boneset
  • Boneset
  • Thoroughwort
  • Agueweed
  • American Boneset
  • Feverwort
  • Indian Sage
  • Chapman's Thoroughwort
Botanical names
  • Accepted: Eupatorium perfoliatum
  • Synonym: Eupatorium chapmanii
  • Synonym: Eupatorium cuneatum
  • Synonym: Eupatorium polyneuron

Photo Gallery

Date: 2021-09-27
Location: Birdsboro, Pennsylvania
Date: 2023-08-30
a group in bloom at French Creek State Park
Location: Nottingham Park in southeast pennsylvania
Date: 2010-09-03
wild plant in bloom at pond
Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2015-08-08
#Pollination
Location: Jefferson County, Nebraska
Date: 2012-08-10

Courtesy Outsidepride
  • Uploaded by Joy
Location: Jefferson County, Nebraska
Date: 2012-08-10

Courtesy Outsidepride
  • Uploaded by vic
Location: b
Date: 2016-07-31
Location: IL
Date: 2014-08-06
Location: Skaneateles Conservation Area
photo credit: R. A. Nonenmacher

Date: August
credit: John Cameron
Location: Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor, MI
Date: 2010-08-30
Location: Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor, MI
Date: 2010-08-30
Location: Jefferson County, Nebraska
Date: 2012-08-10
Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2012-09-21
wild plant in bloom in ditch

Photo Courtesy of Prairie Nursery. Used with Permission
  • Uploaded by Joy
Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2016-07-31

Photo courtesy of: Tom Potterfield
Location: Skaneateles Conservation Area
photo credit: R. A. Nonenmacher

photo credit: H. Zell
Location: Saint Helena Isle, St. Ignace, MI
Date: 2016-09-03
Growing wild on protected Island on Lake Michigan
Location: Saint Helena Isle, St. Ignace, MI
Date: 2016-09-03
Growing wild on protected Island on Lake Michigan
Location: Saint Helena Isle, St. Ignace, MI
Date: 2016-09-03
Growing wild on protected Island on Lake Michigan
Location: Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor, MI
Date: 2010-08-30
Location: Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor, MI
Date: 2010-08-30
Location: Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor, MI
Date: 2010-08-30
Location: Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor, MI
Date: 2010-08-30
Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2016-06-30
Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2016-06-30

Photo Courtesy of Lazy S'S Farm Nursery.
  • Uploaded by Joy
This plant is tagged in:
Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image

Comments:
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Feb 16, 2018 9:08 PM concerning plant:
    I am happy to say that this is a common wild perennial in wet soils near pond, lakes, watercourses, and swamps. It gets its name from an old belief that the leaves clasping around the stem would help heal the setting of bones. Its native range is from southern Manitoba to Nova Scotia and then southward deep down into the US. Its white flowers in late summer and early fall are loved by a large number of bees and other pollinators. Some are sold by a good number of native plant nurseries and it does make a nice, neat perennial that grows fine in average, mesic garden soil.
  • Posted by mellielong (Lutz, Florida - Zone 9b) on Apr 17, 2015 10:56 PM concerning plant:
    The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs William Starr Dana gives the author's personal experience with this plant. She says it so well, I'm going to quote the passage in its entirety.

    "To one whose childhood was passed in the country some fifty years ago the name or sight of this plant is fraught with unpleasant memories. The attic or wood-shed was hung with bunches of the dried herb, which served as many gruesome warnings against wet feet, or any over-exposure which might result in cold or malaria. A certain Nemesis, in the shape of a nauseous draught which was poured down the throat under the name of 'boneset tea', attended such a catastrophe. The Indians first discovered its virtues, and named the plant ague-weed. Possibly this is one of the few herbs whose efficacy has not been overrated. Dr. Millspaugh says, "It is prominently adapted to cure a disease peculiar to the South, known as break-bone fever (Dengue), and it is without doubt from this property that the name boneset was derived."
  • Posted by jmorth (central Illinois) on Dec 9, 2011 7:18 PM concerning plant:
    Preferred habitat in the Midwest include moist to wet ground, prairies, marshes, and along streams.
    Native American Indians considered it a panacea for ills, aches, and pain.
    Name Boneset came from early settlers who used it, not to set bones, but as a flu treatment. A flu that caused severe body aches was called 'breakbone fever'
Plant Events from our members
christine2 On June 3, 2023 Obtained plant
Native plant sale (1)
» Post your own event for this plant

« Add a new plant to the database

» Search the Eupatoriums Database: by characteristics or by cultivar name

« See the general plant entry for Eupatoriums (Eupatorium)

« The Eupatoriums Database Front Page

« The Plants Database Front Page