Native Plants of Wisconsin

Allegheny Serviceberry

Amelanchier laevis

Provides food and habitat for a wide variety of wildlife.

American Hazelnut

Corylus americana

Provides food and cover for a wide variety of wildlife.

American Highbush Cranberry

Viburnum opulus L. subsp. trilobum

Provides food and habitat for a variety of wildlife, including birds and mammals.

Arrow-leaved Aster

Aster sagittifolius

Provides food for wild turkey, ruffed grouse, white-tailed deer, cottontail rabbits and groundhogs.

Balsam Fir

Abies balsamea

Provides food, cover, and shelter for a variety of wildlife, especially in winter.

Beaked Hazelnut

Corylus cornuta

Provides excellent cover for various kinds of wildlife and ideal nesting habitat for many songbirds and game birds.

Big Bluestem

Andropogon gerardii

Provides important cover and shelter for grassland birds and many small mammals for nesting and escape cover in summer and winter.

Big-leaved Aster

Aster macrophyllus

Provides food for ruffed grouse, wild turkey, white-tailed deer and cottontail rabbits.

Bishop's Cap/Two-leaf Miterwort

Mitella diphylla

The flowers are pollinated by Syrphid flies and small short-tongued bees.

Black Chokeberry

Aronia melanocarpa

Provides cover for a variety of birds, small mammals, and insects.

Black-eyed Susan

Rudbeckia hirta

Provides protection and food to several song and game birds.

Blue Vervain

Verbena hastata

Provides food for a variety of birds and mammals.

Calico Aster

Aster lateriflorus

Provides food for white-tailed deer and cottontail rabbits.

Common Ironweed

Vernonia fasciculata

The bitter foliage of ironweed deters consumption by mammalian herbivores.

Common Milkweed

Asclepias syriaca

Favorite of monarch caterpillars as nectar and larval host plant.

Common Oak Sedge

Carex pensylvanica

Provides food for various birds and small mammals.

Common Rush

Juncus effusus

Provides significant cover and nesting habitat for wetland birds and other kinds of wildlife.

Culver's Root

Veronicastrum virginicum

The seeds are too tiny to be of much interest to birds.

Cup-plant

Silphium perfoliatum

Provides good cover for birds, which often lurk among the leaves during the heat of the day, searching for insects or pausing to rest.

Dark-green Bulrush

Scirpus atrovirens

Provides wildlife cover and nesting materials for many species at the water’s edge.

Downy Arrowwood Viburnum

Viburnum rafinesquianum

Provides food, cover, and nesting habitat for a variety of wildlife.

Early Meadow Rue

Thalictrum diocum

White-tailed deer browse may browse on the foliage sparingly.

False Sunflower/Ox Eye Daisy

Heliopsis helianthoides

Provides nesting habitat and cover for beneficial insects and perches for feeding birds in winter.

Fowl Manna Grass

Glyceria striata

Provides good cover for wetland birds, frogs, salamanders, turtles, frogs, damselfly and dragonfly larvae, and spawning habitat for fish.

Fox Sedge

Carex vulpinoidea

Provides valuable spawning and breeding habitat for fish, amphibians, aquatic insects, ducks, and other wildlife.

Fringed Sedge

Carex crinita

Provides valuable spawning and breeding habitat for fish, amphibians, aquatic insects, ducks, and other wildlife.

Golden Alexanders

Zizia aurea

Larval host for black swallowtails.

Grass-leaved Goldenrod

Euthamia graminifolia

Provides food for American goldfinches, black-capped chickadees, swamp sparrows, greater prairie chickens, cottontail rabbits, and white-tailed deer.

Gray Goldenrod

Solidago nemoralis

Provides food for American goldfinches, sparrows, black-capped chickadees, greater prairie chickens, groundhogs, cottontail rabbits, and white-tailed deer.

Great Blue Lobelia

Lobelia siphilitica

Deters herbivores like white-tailed deer.

Great St. John's Wort

Hypericum pyramidatum

The foliage is somewhat toxic to mammalian herbivores and usually avoided.

Harebell

Campanula rotundifolia

Hill's Oak/Northern Pin Oak

Quercus ellipsoidalis

Provides an important food source for wildlife and nesting sites for a variety of birds.

Hoary Vervain

Verbena stricta

Provides food for various songbirds.

Jacob's Ladder

Polemonium reptans

Meadowsweet

Spiraea alba

Provides food and habitat for a variety of wildlife.

Mountain Mint

Pycnanthemum virginianum

The mint fragrance of the leaves and stems is repugnant to mammalian herbivores and many leaf-chewing insects.

Nannyberry

Viburnum lentago

Provides food, cover, and nesting habitat for a variety of wildlife.

New England Aster

Aster novae-angliae

Provides food for wild turkey, white-tailed deer and cottontail rabbits. The nectar of the flower provides an excellent source for monarch and other butterflies late into the fall.

Northern Bedstraw

Galium boreale

Provides food for white-tailed deer and cottontail rabbits.

Northern Blue Flag Iris

Iris versicolor

Provides great cover for wetland birds, waterfowl, small mammals, frogs, turtles, and aquatic insects; gives vertical structure for emerging insects like dragonflies and damselflies.

Northern Sweet Grass

Hierochloe odorata

Provides cover and food for grassland birds, mice, squirrels, amphibians and reptiles, and assorted small mammals.

Path Rush

Juncus tenuis

Provides significant cover and nesting habitat for wetland birds and other kinds of wildlife.

Prairie Brome Grass

Bromus kalmii

Provides good wildlife cover and habitat during all seasons.

Prairie Cord Grass

Spartina pectinata

Provides an important source of protective cover and nesting habitat for many wetland birds and other kinds of wildlife.

Prairie Dropseed

Sporobolus heterolepis

Provides cover, shelter, and food for birds, mice, squirrels, and other small mammals.

Prairie Smoke

Geum triflorum

Attracts upland game birds and songbirds.

Purple Giant Hyssop

Agastache scrophulariaefolia

Provides nesting habitat and cover for beneficial insects and perches for feeding birds.

Purple Love Grass

Eragrostis spectabilis

Provides cover, nesting material, and shelter on drier lake, stream and river edges for birds, amphibians, insects, small mammals, and other critters.

Purple Meadow Rue

Thalictrum dasycarpum

Provides tall and expansive cover for ground nesting birds.

Rattlesnake Grass

Glyceria canadensis

Provides good cover for wetland birds, turtles, frogs, damselfly and dragonfly larvae, and spawning habitat for fish.

Red Maple

Acer rubrum

Provides food, cover, and nesting habitat for a variety of wildlife.

Red Osier Dogwood

Cornus sericea

Provides food, cover, and nesting habitat for a variety of wildlife.

River Birch

Betula nigra

Provides food, cover, and nesting habitat for a wide variety of wildlife.

Shadblow/Downy Serviceberry

Amelanchier arborea

Provides food and habitat for a wide variety of wildlife.

Southern Blue Flag Iris

Iris virginica

Provides cover for wetland birds, waterfowl, frogs, turtles, and aquatic mammals; provides vertical structure for emerging insects like dragonflies and damselflies.

Speckled Alder

Alnus incana

Provides food, cover, and nesting habitat for a wide variety of wildlife.

Steeplebush/Hard-hack

Spiraea tomentosa

Provides food and habitat for a variety of wildlife.

Swamp Rose

Rosa palustris

Provides food, cover, and nesting habitat for a wide variety of wildlife.

Switch Grass

Panicum virgatum

Provides excellent nesting and fall and winter cover for pheasants, quail, and cottontail rabbits.

Virginia Wild Rye

Elymus virginicus

Provides food and nesting material for birds and small mammals.

Virgin's Bower

Clematis virginiana

Provides significant cover and nesting habitat for many songbirds.

White Oak

Quercus alba

Provides an important source of food for many birds and mammals, and nesting and denning sites.

White Snowberry

Symphoricarpos albus

Provides food and shelter for small mammals.

White Spruce

Picea glauca

Provides nesting sites and shelter for different wildlife.

Wild Black Cherry

Prunus serotina

Provides an important source of food to many upland gamebirds and songbirds.