Late Thoroughwort is a common native plant in wet meadows and bottomlands from Wisconsin & Minnesota to New Jersey and way southward in the US. It grows about 3 to 6 feet high and is a big perennial. It has sharp spearhead-like leaves with long leaf stalks (petioles). Its white flower clusters bloom in September & October and are loved by bees, wasps, butterflies, beetles and other pollinators and smell good, fragrant. In fact it is such an excellent late season pollination plant that is constantly busy with beneficial insects. I saw some planted at a foundation native plant landscape of Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville, Illinois, where they were making good tall perennials in average, mesic soil. (As far as I can tell, it probably is one of those perennials that does not ever need dividing because of the center of the plant dying out or the plant getting too big and thick.) Its root system is fibrous and it also forms rhizomes (underground stems) so it can spread by them. Some report that it can be an aggressive perennial for the regular garden; others not. One person reported that it was invasive in a pasture and he did not want it because the foliage is bitter and not good for livestock or mammals to be eating. It is sold by some native plant nurseries, as Izel in MD, Prairie Moon in MN, and EcoBlosom in TX.

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Very common in central Maryland waste places and roadsides. Can self sow in a casual garden. Smells like vanilla to me. Watch out for new plants, can be overabundant if you let some go to seed.

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Habitat range - open moist woods, prairies, pastures, disturbed areas and old fields.
Common wildflower in Illinois.
Blooms August - October. Butterflies and bees (also wasps) attracted to plant.

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Honey bees get nectar from this plant which produces a light amber honey.

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