Curly cup gum weed is a biennial (in cultivation, sometimes peren- 

 nial J ) herb of the sunflower, or aster family (Compositae). The 

 name gumweed alludes to the sticky, resinous character of the plant, 

 the flower heads being particularly gummy, especially when in bud. 

 The specific name squarrosa refers to the widely spreading (squar- 

 rose) ? often down-curving, bracts (involucre) of the flower head. 



Primarily a plant of me drier prairie soils, this species rather 

 commonly inhabits plains and foothills from Manitoba and Minne- 

 sota to Missouri, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and Saskatchewan; 

 it possibly extends into Mexico. In the long-narrow-leaved variety 

 G. sqicarr&'sa set^rulaft (syn. G. semda'ta) it occurs naturally in 

 parts of southern California. Curlycup gumweed is an aggressive 

 plant, and its range is extending as it is steadily invading areas 

 bordering the States mentioned. It is reported as being abundant 

 locally in northeastern California and to have been collected in 

 Oregon and Washington ; it is now found in northeastern Michigan, 

 Indiana, and Illinois, being widely naturalized along roadsides, rail- 

 road banks, and in fields of the eastern United States and Canada. 

 The species appears up to about 9,000 feet in Colorado and New 

 Mexico. It usually occurs on the drier, rocky, gravelly or sandy 

 soils, being qualified to survive where moisture is limited. This 

 herb also grows on deeper, sandy, or clayey loams and is characteris- 

 tic of wastelands and overgrazed areas, often densely inhabiting 

 old fields, eroded hill- and road-sides where the surface soil has been 

 disturbed. Curlycup gumweed was first collected on the open 

 prairies along the banks of the Missouri Kiyer by Captain Meri- 

 wether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804^06). 



Curlycup gumweed has little forage value and is unpalatable to 

 livestock, although sheep occasionally crop the flower heads on poor, 

 overgrazed ranges. The leaves and flowering tops of this species 

 and of the closely related shore gumweed (G. robiis'ta), of Califor- 

 nia, are the official source of fluid extract of grindelia, a valuable 

 antispasmodic, also used because of its stimulating effect upon the 

 mucous membrane in the treatment of chronic bronchitis and 

 asthma. 2 It is also used as a tonic. Curlycup gumweed is one of 

 several species of Grmdelia employed in the treatment of poison-oak 

 and poison-ivy inflammation. 3 Honeybees favor this plant as a source 

 of nectar, although the honey is reputedly inferior in flavor. Bee- 

 keepers also claim that it candies too quickly to be desirable in the 

 comb. In fact, this nectar tends to coagulate so rapidly that it candies 

 in the sacks of the bees unless they hurry to the hive immediately 

 after gathering the material. 4 5 



1 Steyermark, J. A. STUDIES IN GRINDELIA. n. A MONOGRAPH OF THE NORTH AMERICAN 

 SPECIES OF THE GENUS GRINDELIA. Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 21 : 227-230, 433-608, illus. 

 1934. 



3 Wood, H. C., Remington, J. P., and Sadtler, S. P., assisted by Lyons, A. B., and 



Wood, H. C., Jr. THE DISPENSATORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BY DR. GEO. 



B. WOOD AND DR. FRANKLIN BACHB. Ed. 19, thoroughly rev. and largely rewritten . . . 

 1,947 pp. Philadelphia and London. 1907. 



8 Stuhr, E. T. MANUAL OP PACIFIC COAST DRUG PLANTS . . . 189 pp., illus. Lan- 

 caster, Pa. 1933. 



4 Clements, E. S. FLOWERS OF COAST AND SIERRA. 226 pp., illus. New York. 1928. 



6 Pellett, F. C. AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS TOGETHER WITH THOSE WHICH ARE OF SPECIAL 



VALUE TO THE BEEKEEPER AS SOURCES OF POLLEN. Ed. 3, rev. and enl., 419 pp., illus. 

 Hamilton, 111. 1930. 



