KS Land Institute Seeking Silphium
We are seeking to diversify the genetics of our Silphium integrifolium (rosinweed) population. Currently, most of our material comes from wild populations in Kansas.
If any of you know how to identify this species and know where it can be found, I would be most grateful if you could collect some seeds and send them to me. Many of the plants will have dropped their seeds already,but we are especially interested in plants that have not. Or we can try again next year. Also, I am especially interested in populations adapted to regions quite different from Kansas, although I would certainly like to have additional Kansas collections as well.
Unlike compass plant (Silphium laciniatum), with large deeply lobed leaves at the base of the plant, Silphium integrifolium has smaller un-lobed leaves all the way up the stems. It looks more similar to cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) but the leaf bases do not overlap to form the distinctive “cups”.
Just put cut or pull the brown heads off the (probably brown) plants and dump the seed and other head materials in an envelope and mail it to The Land Institute along with a brief description of where the plants were found.
Thanks for your help! About The Land Institute
David Van Tassel
The Land Institute
2440 E. Water Well Rd
Salina, KS 67401