Eupatorium capillifolium, dogfennel
Van Deelen, Timothy R. 1991. Eupatorium capillifolium, dogfennel. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/eupcap
| Abbreviation | Common Name | Scientific Name | Classification | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plants | ||||
| EUPCAP | dogfennel | Eupatorium capillifolium | Life Form: Plants/Forb Kingdom: Plantae Class: Dicot Order: Asterales Family: Asteraceae Genus: Eupatorium | Fed. Protected: No Nativity: Native Invasiveness: Noninvasive |
Taxonomy
The currently accepted scientific name for dogfennel is Eupatorium capillifolium (Lam.) Small (Asteraceae) [2,6]. Eupatorium compositifolium Walt. and E. leptophyllum D.C. are closely related species which some authors include as varieties of E. capillifolium [2,11]. There are no recognized subspecies or varieties.
Synonyms
- Eupatorium compositifolium Walt.
Other Common Names
None
General Distribution
Dogfennel grows in the southeastern United States from southern Florida west to eastern Texas. Its range extends north to Tennessee, Virginia, and New Jersey. It is occasional farther north along the East Coast to Massachusetts [2].
States and Provinces
- United States: AL AR CT DE FL GA LA MA NJ NY NC RI SC TN TX VA
Site Characteristics
Dogfennel grows on disturbed sites in the Southeast. It is common on young burns in the loblolly pine (Pinus taeda)-turkey oak (Quercus laevis) type in Florida's Ocala National Forest [10], on recent burns in the Okefenokee Swamp [1], on burned and cut Atlantic white-cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) sites in the Great Dismal Swamp [14], and on overgrazed sites in Louisiana [3]. Dogfennel is a frequent invader of everglades sawgrass (Cladium sp.) communities during drought [7,13]. Other dogfennel sites include meadows, swales, old fields, pond borders, ditches, disturbed or overgrazed pastures, and roadsides [9]. Although apparently able to grow on a variety of soils, it is most common on dry, sandy soils [9].
Dogfennel growing along a fence line.
Plant Communities
Wells [18] cited dogfennel as a dominant of mid-seral, coastal meadows in his classification of Coastal Plain community types.
Botanical Description
Dogfennel is a common, aggressively weedy native of the southeastern United States [2,14]. It is alternately described as an annual [2,9,16] and a perennial [6,14]. It has several stems arising from a stout woody caudex. It grows in distinct colonies on favorable sites. Dogfennel normally reaches 4 to 5 feet (1.2-1.5 m) in height but can reach up to 9 feet (2.7 m) on fertile sites [9]. The fruit is a smooth achene [9].
Raunkiaer Life Form (Raunkiaer 1934)
- Hemicryptophyte
- Therophyte
Seasonal Development
Dogfennel biomass peaks in the spring [14]. Its flowering period is unusually long because shaded plants bloom earlier than those in full sun. A population of dogfennel near Gainesville Florida had the following phenological sequence [3].
| Phenological event | Timing |
|---|---|
| Flowering | late August - early November |
| Fruit ripening | early - mid November |
| Fruit dispersal | late November - early December |
| Drying | late November - mid January |
| Dormancy | mid January - early March |
| Bolting | early April - June |
Regeneration Processes
Dogfennel is wind pollinated [9]. Following the typical pattern of weedy plants, dogfennel's primary mode of regeneration is probably sexual. Its regeneration strategy probably depends on the production of a great many wind-dispersed seeds.
Successional Status
Obligate Initial Community Species
Dogfennel is intolerant of closed or highly structured communities [9]. It is undoubtedly an early seral, if not an invader, species in most successional progressions within its range.
Immediate Fire Effects
Most fires probably kill or at least top-kill dogfennel. Its caudex may survive cool fires.
Postfire Regeneration Strategy (Stickney 1989)
No entry.
Fire Adaptations
The fire ecology of dogfennel has not been adequately described. Dogfennel probably depends on off-site seed sources to colonize recently burned areas. Sprouting from a surviving caudex may also occur.
Plant Response to Fire
The presence of dogfennel on recently burned sites [1,10,14] indicates that seedling establishment and/or sprouting occurs following fire.
Fire Regimes
For fire regime information, search FEIS for this species by entering the species name or acronym on the home page and selecting “Fire Regime” as the publication type.
Fire Management Considerations
No entry.
Federal Status
None
Other Status
No entry.
Importance to Wildlife and Livestock
Dogfennel has no value as forage for wildlife and livestock [9,15].
Palatability and Nutritional Value
Dogfennel probably has very low palatability. Cattle graze it sparingly if at all, even when other forage is scarce [9].
Cover Value
No entry.
Value for Rehabilitation or Restoration of Disturbed Sites
No entry.
Other Uses
No entry.
Other Management Considerations
Dogfennel may serve as a reservoir for disease-causing pathogens when growing among food crops [4].
Dogfennel is scarce on forest ranges in good condition [9]. Grazing forage utilization in excess of 65 percent will favor dogfennel establishment [3]. Dogfennel presence may indicate overgrazing.
Table A1— Forest and range ecosystems, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) physiographic regions, Kuchler plant associations, Society for American Foresters (SAF) forest cover types, and Society for Rangeland Management (SRM) rangeland cover types in which this species occurs.
Forest and Range Ecosystems (Garrison et al. 1977)
- FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
- FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
- FRES14 Oak - pine
- FRES15 Oak - hickory
- FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
- FRES41 Wet grasslands
BLM Physiographic Regions (Bernard and Brown 1977)
- No entry.
Kuchler Plant Associations (Kuchler 1964)
- K079 Palmetto prarie
- K080 Marl - everglades
- K089 Black belt
- K090 Live oak - sea oats
- K091 Cypress savanna
- K092 Everglades
- K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
- K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
- K112 Southern mixed forest
- K113 Southern floodplain forest
- K114 Pocosin
- K115 Sand pine scrub
- K116 Subtropical pine forest
SAF Cover Types (Eyre 1980)
- 40 Post oak - blackjack oak
- 43 Bear oak
- 45 Pitch pine
- 46 Eastern redcedar
- 57 Yellow poplar
- 61 River birch - sycamore
- 64 Sassafras - persimmon
- 69 Sand pine
- 70 Longleaf pine
- 71 Longleafpine - scrub oak
- 72 Southern scrub oak
- 75 Shortleaf pine
- 76 Shortleaf pine - oak
- 78 Virginia pine - oak
- 79 Virginia pine
- 80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
- 81 Loblolly pine
- 82 Loblolly pine hardwood
- 83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
- 84 Slash pine
- 87 Sweet gum - yellow poplar
- 97 Atlantic white-cedar
- 111 South Florida slash pine
SRM Rangeland Cover Types (Shiflet 1994)
- No entry.
1. Cypert, Eugene. 1961. The effects of fires in the Okefenokee Swamp in 1954 and 1955. American Midland Naturalist. 66(2): 485-503. [11018]
2. Duncan, Wilbur H.; Duncan, Marion B. 1987. The Smithsonian guide to seaside plants of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts from Louisiana to Massachusetts, exclusive of lower peninsular Florida. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. 409 p. [12906]
3. Duvall, V. L.; Linnartz, N. E. 1967. Influences of grazing and fire on vegetation and soil of longleaf pine - bluestem range. Journal of Range Management. 20: 241-247. [7623]
4. Edwards, W. H.; Jones, R. K. 1984. Additions to the weed host range of Meloidogyne hapla. Plant Disease. 68(9): 811-812. [15899]
5. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905]
6. Fernald, Merritt Lyndon. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. [Corrections supplied by R. C. Rollins]. Portland, OR: Dioscorides Press. 1632 p. (Dudley, Theodore R., gen. ed.; Biosystematics, Floristic & Phylogeny Series; vol. 2). [14935]
7. Forthman, Carol Ann. 1973. The effects of prescribed burning on sawgrass. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami. 83 p. Thesis. [14571]
8. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others]. 1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
9. Grelen, Harold E.; Hughes, Ralph H. 1984. Common herbaceous plants of Southern forest range. Res. Pap. SO-210. New Orleans, LA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest and Range Experiment Station. 147 p. [2946]
10. Harlow, Richard F.; Bielling, Paul. 1961. Controlled burning studies in longleaf pine-turkey oak association on the Ocala National Forest. Proceeding, Annual Conference of Southeastern Association of Game and Fish. 15: 9-24. [9905]
11. Kartesz, John T.; Kartesz, Rosemarie. 1980. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. Volume II: The biota of North America. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press; in confederation with Anne H. Lindsey and C. Richie Bell, North Carolina Botanical Garden. 500 p. [6954]
12. Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Manual to accompany the map of potential vegetation of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York: American Geographical Society. 77 p. [1384]
13. Loveless, Charles M. 1959. A study of the vegetation in the Florida Everglades. Ecology. 40(1): 1-9. [11478]
14. McKinley, Carol E.; Day, Frank P., Jr. 1979. Herbaceous production in cut-burned, uncut-burned, and control areas of a Chamaecyparis thyoides (L.) BSP (Cupressaceae) stand in the Great Dismal Swamp. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 106(1): 20-28. [14089]
15. Murray, Robert W.; Frye, O. E., Jr. 1964. The bobwhite quail and its management in Florida. 2d ed. Game Publ. No. 2. [Place of publication unknown]: Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. 55 p. [15421]
16. Patton, Janet Easterday; Judd, Walter S. 1988. A phenological study of 20 vascular plant species occurring on the Paynes Prairie Basin, Alachua County, Florida. Castanea. 53(2): 149-163. [15081]
17. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843]
18. Wells, B. W. 1928. Plant communities of the Coastal Plain of North Carolina and their successional relations. Ecology. 9(2): 230-242. [9307]
19. Stickney, Peter F. 1989. Seral origin of species originating in northern Rocky Mountain forests. Unpublished draft on file at: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT; RWU 4403 files. 7 p. [20090]
20. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. 1982. National list of scientific plant names. Vol. 1. List of plant names. SCS-TP-159. Washington, DC. 416 p. [11573]