This is a plant of genuine scale. Cup-plant commonly reaches six feet and can push to nine in favorable conditions, its square stems thick and stout enough to hold those dimensions without staking even in exposed sites. The foliage is the first thing to notice: opposite leaves that join at the base and wrap the stem completely, creating water-holding cups at each node. Goldfinches use these as drinking stations, and bumblebees and honeybees have been documented using parts of the plant for nesting material and nesting beneath it, making it more than just a pollinator flower plant.

Native to open woods, lake borders, ditches, meadows, and prairies across the Midwest and Upper Midwest, Cup-plant carries yellow sunflower-like blooms from midsummer onward, with the nectar and pollen attracting short-tongued bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies. In North Carolina it is restricted to the Piedmont and Mountains, where it is genuinely rare. It prefers loamy soil but tolerates clay. Drought can cause lower leaves to drop and brown, so consistent moisture helps during dry spells. The deep roots that establish over the first couple of seasons make mature plants difficult to move, so place it in a spot where a large, somewhat assertive native wildflower is actually wanted. It self-seeds freely.