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Curlycup
Gumweed
Common
Name(s):
Curlycup gumweed
Gumweed
Scientific
Name:
Grindelia
squarrosa (Pursh) Dunal
Scientific
Name Synonyms:
None known
Symbol:
GRSQ
Description:
Life
Span: Annual,
Biennial, or Perennial
Origin:Native
Season: Warm
Growth Characteristics:
An
erect, tall forb, growing 1 to 3 feet tall, with 1 to several branched
stems. Grows from a taproot, branching above. Starts growth in early
spring, flowers July to August, reproduces from seeds.
Flowers/Inflorescence:
Numerous
and yellow. There are bracts at the base of the flower which are
shiny, sticky, and curved downward (hence the name "squarrose"
in the name). Fruit is an achene.
Fruits/Seeds:Fruit
is an achene.
Leaves: Alternate
and oblong with toothed edges, gland-dotted, and gummy.
Ecological
Adaptations:
Curlycup
gumweed favors dry areas, but grows on moist soils that lack other
vegetation. It is most common in dry prairies, waste places, roadsides,
railroads, depleted rangelands, and abandoned croplands. It often
forms almost pure stands. It is found at elevations from 3,000 to
8,000 feet. Curlycup gumweed increases under drought conditions.
Soils: Curlycup
gumweed does best on sandy loam, loam, and clayey loam, although
it is adapted to a broad range of soils. It is tolerant of saline
soils.
Associated Species:
Rubber
rabbitbrush, big sagebrush,
western wheatgrass, and
associated roadside weeds.
Uses and
Management:
Curlycup
gumweed is unpalatable to cattle, sheep, and horses, though sheep
will occasionally crop flower heads in the absence of other forage.
Tannins, volatile oils, resins, bitter alkaloids, and glucosides
give it an unpleasant taste. If curlycup gumweed is consumed, it
may lead to poisoning due to the selenium the plant can accumulate.
It is resistant to grazing and drought.
American Indians used the gummy secretions of curlycup gumweed to
relieve asthma, bronchitis, and colic. Pawnee Indians boiled leaves
and flowering tops to treat saddle sores and raw skin. Today, medicinal
uses include treatment of bronchial spasm, whooping cough, asthma,
and rashes caused by poison ivy. Curlycup gumweed extract is valuable
as a stimulant, sedative, astringent, purgative, emetic, diuretic,
antiseptic, and disinfectant.
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