ILLINOIS PLANT INFORMATION NETWORK ILPIN INFORMATION ON Silphium laciniatum CLASS: DICOTYLEDENAE ORDER: ASTERALES FAMILY: ASTERACEAE SCIENTIFIC NAME: Silphium laciniatum AUTHORITY: L. COMMON NAMES: COMPASS-PLANT ROSIN-WEED SYNONOMY: None PLANTS CODE: SILA3 NATURAL COMMUNITIES: PRAIRIE TYPICAL PRAIRIE DRY DRY-MESIC MESIC WET-MESIC SAND PRAIRIE WET-MESIC LISTED CHARACTERISTIC SAVANNA TYPICAL SAVANNA DRY-MESIC MESIC PRIMARY GLADE CULTURAL DEVELOPED LAND RESTORATION PRAIRIE SAF FOREST COVER TYPE: UNAVAILABLE NATURAL DIVISION: Grand Prairie Grand Prairie Springfield Western Green River Lowland listed Upper Miss. and Ill. R. Bottomlands Illinois River Mississippi River listed Miss. and Ill. R. Sand Areas Illinois River Mississippi River listed Western Forest Prairie Galesburg Carlinville listed Southern Till Plain Effingham Plain Mt. Vernon Hill Country listed Wabash Border Bottomlands Southern Uplands Vermilion River listed COUNTIES: ADAMS ALEXANDER BOND BOONE BROWN BUREAU CALHOUN CARROLL CASS CHAMPAIGN CHRISTIAN CLARK CLAY CLINTON COLES COOK CRAWFORD CUMBERLAND DEKALB DEWITT DOUGLAS DUPAGE EFFINGHAM FAYETTE FORD FRANKLIN FULTON GREENE GRUNDY HAMILTON HANCOCK HENDERSON HENRY IROQUOIS JACKSON JASPER JEFFERSON JO DAVIESS KANE KANKAKEE KENDALL KNOX LAKE LASALLE LAWRENCE LEE LIVINGSTON LOGAN MCDONOUGH MCHENRY MCLEAN MACON MACOUPIN MADISON MARION MARSHALL MASON MASSAC MERCER MONROE MONTGOMERY MORGAN MOULTRIE OGLE PEORIA PERRY PIATT PUTNAM RANDOLPH RICHLAND ROCK ISLAND ST. CLAIR SANGAMON SCOTT SHELBY STARK STEPHENSON TAZEWELL VERMILION WASHINGTON WAYNE WHITESIDE WILL WILLIAMSON WINNEBAGO WOODFORD GROWTH FORM: Dicot-herb TAXONOMY COMMENTS: Common name derived from the tendency of basal leaves, when growing in full sun, to hold their edges so they point North-South. Thus the leaf surfaces face the sun in the morning and the afternoon. TAXONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS: ROOTS: Primary LEAF ARRANGEMENT: Alternate Basal LEAF TYPE: Simple LEAF MARGIN: Lobed (pinnately) LEAF VENATION: Pinnate LEAF SHAPE: Lanceolate INFLORESCENCE: Raceme Head FLOWER MEROUS: 5 FLOWER COLOR: Yellow FLOWER PLACEMENT: Epigynous FRUIT: Achene DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC COMMENTS: The upper stem produces a gummy substance during flowering. Leaves deeply pinnatifid, extending well up the stem; phyllaries coriaceous in age, long- acuminate. Woody tap root. GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION: ORIGIN: Native POPULATION DYNAMICS: STATE STATUS: Not listed FEDERAL STATUS: Not listed COMMONNESS: Common ENDEMIC: NOT-ENDEMIC BIOLOGIC: HABIT: Forb LIFE CYCLE: Perennial REPRODUCTION: Sexual FLOWERING PERIOD: MONTH BEGINNING- 7 MONTH END- 8 TROPHIC STATUS: Autotrophic C02 FIXATION: C3 SEX: Unisexual -monoecious ECODISTRIBUTION COMMENTS: Found along railroads. ENVIRONMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS: GROWTH OF SPECIES IN VARIOUS CONDITIONS: No data entered HABITAT: Moist Dry FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS: No data entered HUMAN RELATIONSHIP DATA: EDIBLE: Yes WILD HERBS: Culinary-flavor HUMAN FACTOR COMMENTS: The gummy substance produced by the upper stem during flowering has been used by Native Americans as a chewing gum. WILDLIFE AND LIVESTOCK INFORMATION: FOOD VALUE: No data entered COVER VALUE: No data entered LIVESTOCK PALATABILITY DATA: CATTLE FORAGE: Good SHEEP FORAGE: Good HORSE FORAGE: Good GOAT FORAGE: Good ENERGY VALUE: No data PROTEIN VALUE: No data POISONOUS (LIVESTOCK): No data entered LIVESTOCK COMMENTS: Plant is considered nutritious and palatable, especially when young, by all grazing animals. REVEGETATION PLANTINGS: ESTABLISHMENT REQUIREMENTS: Easy SHORT-TERM REVEGETATION POTENTIAL: Good LONG-TERM REVEGETATION POTENTIAL: Good WEEDINESS: Non-weedy SEED AVAILABILITY: Good PROCUREMENT COMMENTS: 2,5,61 PROPAGATION COMMENTS: Form-seeds, plants. REFERENCES: Mohlenbrock, R. H., ed. 1975. Guide to the vascular flora of Illinois. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 494 pp. Gleason, H. A., and A. Cronquist. 1963. Manual of vascular plants of north- eastern United States and adjacent Canada. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York. 810 pp. Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. 8th ed. American Book Co., New York. 1632 pp. Swink, F., and G. S. Wilhelm. 1979. Plants of the Chicago region. Third ed. The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois. 922 pp. Anon. 1981. Illinois plants for habitat restoration. Illinois Department of Conservation, Mining Program. Springfield, Illinois. 61 pp. Schwegman, J. E., G. D. Fell, M. Hutchison, G. Paulson, W. M. Shepherd, and J. White. 1973. Comprehensive plan for the Illinois Nature Preserves System. Part 2 - The Natural Divisions of Illinois. Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, Springfield. 32 pp., plus map. White, J., and M. H. Madany. 1978. Classification of natural communities in Illinois. Pages 309-405 in J. White, ed., Illinois natural areas inventory technical report. Vol. 1. Survey methods and results. Illinois Natural Areas Inventory, Urbana. Gleason, H. A. 1952. The new Britton and Brown illustrated flora of the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. 3 vols. The New York Botanical Garden, New York. Fernald, M. L., A. C. Kinsey, and R. C. Rollins. 1958. Edible wild plants of eastern North America. Harper and Brothers, New York. 452 pp. Medsger, O. P. 1939. Edible wild plants. MacMillan Company, New York. 323 pp. END OF DATA FOR SPECIES Silphium laciniatum ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ILPIN was developed by Louis Iverson*, with data compiled by David Ketzner and Jeanne Karnes Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign, IL 61820 *currently employed by USDA Forest Service, 359 Main Rd., Delaware, OH 43015