Silphium perfoliatum
Blooming now in mid-July: Cup Plant! The name of this sunflower-like aster comes from the manner in which the upper leaves adhere to the stem. The opposite, toothed leaves are fused at their bases, forming a complete cup around the stem. The leaves are rough and ovate to triangular. The central stem of this plant is square and mostly smooth.
But the real story here is the bright and cheerful flowers that can be up to 3-4 inches wide. Look closely and you will see that the light yellow ray flowers are fertile and the amber-colored disk flowers stick up prominently above the center, creating quite a show. Pollinators swarm to these blossoms and birds flock to eat the seeds and drink the water that sometimes stands in the leaf “cups”.
I found these specimens growing along the banks of the Little River, near Floyd, which is typical habitat for Cup flower. They are hard to miss because they are so darn tall: 4 to 8 feet high! Bloom time is July through September.
VIRGINIA WILDFLOWERS 
Saw these along Smith River this weekend, near the railroad, upstream from Martinsville, while on a First Saturday float with Dan River Basin Association. Had not seen them before and no one along knew what they were. Now we do. Thanks.
Thanks, Susan! Glad the site was helpful!
Dear Gloria,
we are botanist from germany and working ob the cup plant. At moment we will stay for 3 days in Floyd. We would like to see the cup plants here. Can you help us?
Kind regards
Christian
Hi Christian,
The photos on my website of Cup plant were taken along the Little River. More specifically, I accessed that section of the river from Slusher Store Road, which is off of Route 8 between Floyd and Riner. If you turn onto Slusher Store Road, you will pass the old store on there right and in a short time will be at the river. Cross the bridge to access the river by car. You can turn right or left at that point to follow the river in either direction. As I recall, there were colonies of Cup plant on both sides of the bridge.
I hope that helps!
Gloria
Dear Gloria,
thank you so much, we are now back to germany and we found them. We got a few seeds and will grow them now at the botanic garden.
Thank you so much and best wishes Christian
How exciting! Thanks for letting me know!
Thoughts on how to get rid of these flowers? I have way too many taking over my yard
Sorry I can’t help you with that Cathy! I haven’t ever had that problem! Maybe just taking a hoe to them early in the season?