Joe-Pye Weed

This fluffy mass is the flower head of the Joe-Pye weed, another member of the Eupatorium genus, E. maculatum, or Spotted Joe-Pye Weed.  My specimen is pretty meager compared to some I've seen growing in the wild.  Masses of them grow around the Oxbow area of CNC.  They are also fairly common along riverbanks in the area.  This photo doesn't show the unique whorled arrangement of the leaves, very similar to Culvers' Root.  My Joe-Pye is probably small because I planted it in a pretty congested bed up against the side of my shed.  The ostrich and sensitive ferns have pretty much choked this bed, leaving little room for others.  I removed many of the ferns this spring, so I'm hopeful the old Joe will continue to increase.  The flowers of this relative of the Boneset are lightly and pleasantly fragrant, attracting many pollinating bees, flies and butterflies.  Other than its pollinators and a handful of insects that eat its stems a foliage, Joe-Pye is not an important wildlife food.  The original Joe Pye is believed to have been a Native American herbalist and healer, but little remains of him but this plant.  According to John Eastman's "Swamp and Bog" "It is said that he brewed decoctions of the plant bearing his name to induce sweating in typhus fever."  Joe-Pye Weed is a plant of some stature reaching 4-6 feet in height, making it an ideal specimen plant or backdrop plant for the border.  It adds its soft mauve-pink to the other late summer bloomers, and its tough stems remain through the winter, adding interest to the landscape.