Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 91 



Gum Plant Grindelia (Compositae) 



By Roland Rice 



As we pass the humble Gum-Plant, beside the road, we are apt 

 to pay but little attention to its dust-covered flowers. But when. we 

 have truly made the acquaintance of this useful wilding, we know 

 it to be a very interesting member of the plant world ; and were the 

 flowers not, as a usual thing, covered with dust, they w r ould be quite 

 as pretty as daisies. 



There are several varieties of Grindelia to be found in the State, 

 but some of the species are rather difficult of determination. Grin- 

 delia is the true name of the Gum-Plant. The name is in honor of 

 H. Grindel, a Russian botanist who taught at Riga and Dorpat nearly 

 a century ago. Grindelias belong to the large plant family of the 

 Compositae, of which the sunflower is the representative type, and 

 which has more than 12,000 members scattered throughout the 

 world. The Grindelia has been called the August Flower ; it blooms 

 usually in the late summer season, although I have found its 

 blossoms in March. 



The flowers are yellow, with conspicuous rays about an inch 

 and a half across, and are mostly solitary or in few-flowered clusters 

 at the end of the leafy branches on the somewhat shrubby plants, 

 which are as a rule from two to four feet tall. The common Gum- 

 Plant, G. robusta Nutt., is to be found along the coast as well as in 

 the Coast Range and valleys. The salt marshes are sometimes gay 

 during the summer months with the vivid, yellow G. cuneifolia, 

 which is to be found along the coast and in the interior Bay Region. 

 The desert Gum-Plant, G. camporum, is found in the San Joaquin 

 Valley and south ; while the red-stemmed Gum-Plant, G. rubricaulis, 

 prefers the high, dry ridges and hillsides of the Coast Range. The 

 rest are mostly weedy or inconspicuous desert plants, easily recog- 

 nized by the flower buds exuding that peculiar sticky white gum 

 which found them the name of "Resin-Weeds" from the early 

 settlers. 



These Gum-Plants were an important part of the Indians' medi- 

 cine and are well known in the white man's drug store today. The 

 dried flower heads and leaves of Grindelia are gathered annually in 

 great quantities and tons of them are shipped East, where they are 

 manufactured into the medicine usually known as Grindelia, used for 

 asthma, bronchitis, and other troubles, which is the same purpose the 

 Indians used it for, and the gum dissolved in alcohol is used as a cure 

 for Rhus poisoning (Poison Oak) and other skin troubles. 



Many valuable medicines derived from humble growing things 

 are a heritage from the despised aborigine. 



