Indian hemp (AKA dogbane) has small, sweetly aromatic greenish-white flowers that appear in early summer before many other species are blooming, making it an important source of nourishment for a large number of pollinators. The abundant nectar and pollen attracts cuckoo bees, Halictid bees, plasterer bees, masked bees, Sphecid wasps, syrphid flies, bee flies, Tachinid flies, Calliphorid flies, butterflies, skippers and beetles, including the iridescent dogbane beetle, whose offspring also feed on the leaves. The leaves provide food for numerous showy moths in central Ohio, including the hummingbird clearwing, dogbane tiger, night-wandering dagger, catocaline dart, striped garden caterpillar, purple-lined sallow, blackberry looper and zebra caterpillar moths (all pictured here in order mentioned, some larval, some adult and some with both stages). Seed pods are long and narrow and contain many silk-tufted seeds that are prized by birds as nesting material.
 
Being in the same plant family, dogbane and milkweed share some of the same chemical compounds that make both indigestible to herbivores, so this plant is deer, rabbit and groundhog-resistant. Reaching 3 to 4 feet tall, dogbane spreads aggressively by rhizomes, and grows in dry to wet soils in full to part sun.
 
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