CALIFORNIAN COMPASS-PLANT. SUNFLOWER.
Wyethia angustifolia, Nutt. Composite Family.
Stems.—Six inches to two feet high. Leaves.—Long-lanceolate; pointed at both ends; the radical and lower ones six to twelve inches long; the upper sessile, shorter, and often broader. Flower-heads.—Yellow; composed of ray- and disk-flowers. Plume-like styles of the latter conspicuous. Ray flowers.—Numerous; one inch long; six lines wide; early deciduous. Involucre.—Broadly campanulate, of numerous erect, loose, foliaceous, ciliate scales, in several rows. Hab.—Monterey, east to the Sierra foothills and north to Oregon.
In late spring our open plains and hillsides are often plentifully sown with the large golden flowers of these Californian compass-plants, called "sunflowers" by many people. There is a belief prevalent that their erect leaves always stand with their edges pointing north and south, whence the common name. This trait is said to be true of all the species.
W. helenioides, Nutt., has large, broad leaves, which are white-woolly when young. Its flower-heads are often four inches or more across.
This plant is used as a common domestic remedy for coughs and colds by Californian housewives, and goes under the unmerited name of "poison-weed." It has also been adopted among physicians as an officinal drug. The root, which is slightly bitter and aromatic, is made into a tincture and administered for asthma, throat disorders, and epidemic influenza, with excellent results. It blooms in early spring, and is common upon hillsides.
Another species, very similar to the above, is W. glabra, Gray. This may be known by its smooth green leaves, which are often very viscid. It is found from Marin County southward, in the Coast Ranges, and probably northward.
W. mollis, Gray, or "Indian wheat," is very abundant in the Sierras, growing all through the open woods, and covering great tracts of dry gravelly soil. Its large, coarse, somewhat woolly radical leaves stand erect and clustered, usually having a flower-stalk or two in their midst, bearing some smaller leaves, and several yellow flower-heads, which resemble small sunflowers with yellow centers. It has a strong odor, and gives a characteristic smell to the region where it grows. The common name, "Indian wheat," has been bestowed upon it not because it in the least resembles wheat, but because the Indians gather the seed in great quantities and grind it into a flour.