THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



Vol,. I. October, 1901. No. 4. 



A LIVING COMPASS. 

 By Elm a Ion a Locke. 



"Look at this vigorous plant that lifts its head from the meadows. 

 See how its leaves are turned to the north, as true as the magnet ; 

 This is the compass-flower, that the finger of God has planted 

 Here in the houseless wild, to direct the traveler's journey 

 Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of desert." 



In the Botanies there are described about twenty varieties of 

 the genus Silphium; the tallest, which may well be called a "vig- 

 orous plant," since it grows anywhere from three to twelve feet in 

 height, is Silphium laciniatiim, variously called compass plant, 

 pilot plant, and rosin weed. 



On the western prairies, where its use in former times may 

 well be imagined, this plant is found growing in profusion. It 

 was in 1842 that Major Alvord, of the United States army, wrote 

 a description of it, but so strange a matter was for some time dis- 

 credited by scientists. The various suppositions put forth by 

 Major Alvord, in explanation of its singular behavior, being 

 proved erroneous, it remained for Dr. Gray to discover the true 

 explanation. 



A large tuft of what one might describe as giant oak leaves 

 rise from a root in size well proportioned to the plant, as one will 

 find if he tries to dig it. These leaves are singularly constructed. 



