SCIENTIFIC NAME: Silphium laciniatum
COMMON NAMES: Compass Plant, Gum Weed, Pilotweed, Prairie Compass Plant, Polar Plant, Cut-leaf Silphium, Turpentine Plant, Robinson's Compassplant, Rosinweed
BLOOM TIME: June, July, Aug, Sept
PLANT PROFILE:
- Tap root is up to 15 feet long, while the plant is only 3 to 8 foot tall.
- Can live 100 years.
- Native American children used resin as chewing gum.
- Pioneers believed leaves pointed in a north-south direction.
- Flowers are yellow and resemble sunflowers.
INSECT/ANIMAL INTERACTIONS:
- Long-tongued bees are the primary pollinators of the flowers.
- Occasionally, Sulfur butterflies and Monarchs may visit the flowers for nectar.