Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

COMPASS PLANT

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Silphium laciniatum L.

Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 3-10 feet

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, 1 to several, unbranched, stiff-hairy, sometimes glandular.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, stalked below, sessile above, aligned vertically on stem, pinnately divided into 5-7 pairs of linear segments that are sometimes again lobed, rigid, rough; lower leaves 16 to 18 inches long, to 12 inches wide; upper leaves less divided, gradually reduced.

Inflorescences:

Several heads arranged alternately on short stalks along upper portion of stem. Heads 2 to 4 inches wide; bracts ovate, stiff-hairy; tips pointed.

Flowers:

Ray florets 15-34, 1 to 2 inches long, yellow; disk florets numerous, corollas yellow.

Fruits:

Achenes, flattened, about 1/2 inch long, glabrous, tips notched, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Dry prairie slopes, hillsides, and disturbed areas, most abundant in rocky calcareous or sandy soils.

Distribution:

East 2/3 of Kansas.

Uses:

Compass plant contains a resinous sap that was used by Native Americans as a chewing gum. Some tribes burned the dried roots to ward off lightening during storms. They believed that lightening occurred more frequently where compass plant grew, and they would not camp in those locations.

Comments:

The name "compass plant" alludes to the tendency for basal leaves of plants to align their edges north and south. Compass plant commonly is found in ungrazed areas; livestock seek it out due to its palatability.

Compass plant