It grows on Asteraceae, Cannabaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Fabaceae, Urticaceae and other herbaceous plants, including garden plants such as Coleus and Impatiens.
Plants in the family Urticaceae, also known as Stinging Nettles, also form leaf cystoliths, but only during their later flowering and seed setting stages.
E. J. H. Corner suggested moving the genus to the Urticaceae in 1962, while Cornelis Berg placed Cecropia in its own family, the Cecropiaceae.
They have been found oligophagous or even monophagous on the following plant families: Asteraceae, Cannabaceae, Convolvulaceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Urticaceae.