Grindelia

March 30th, 2008

Botanical Name: Grindelia camporum (GREENE), Grindelia cuneifolia, Grindelia squarrosa
Family: N.O. Compositae.
Genus: Grindelia Species: camporum Variety: Cultivar:
Common name: Giant Gum Plant.
Synonyms: Hardy Grindelia. Gum Plant. California Gum Plant. Scaly Grindelia. Rosin Weed. Grindelia robusta (Nutt.).
Parts Used: Dried leaves and flowering tops.
Habitat: The western United States.

Description: Grindelia robusta, Grindelia procera. This hardy, colorful plant is a perennial that grows from the north coast ranges to Baja in dry washes, and road edges in sandy or clay soils. Grindelia has attractive yellow daisy flowers. It is called gum plant because of the sticky substance covering the plant. It is coveted for medicinal purposes. Grindelia also attracts butterflies and other interesting insects. It likes full sun, and can tolerate deer, and will grow in salty soil. This gum plant is found in the coastal ranges and the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys and will grow up to 4000 ft. elevation. Gumplant is great for the front of a dry border of a California garden with Penstemons, Nassella species, Hazardia species, and Argemone munita.
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G. squarrosa, a plant with bright yellow flowers indigenous to much of the United States, is commonly called curlycup gumweed. G. robusta, found in the western states, is a coastal scrub bush that is reputed to have several medicinal uses. Hairy gumweed, Grindelia cuneifolia, occurs in brackish coastal marshes of western North America, such as in some portions of the San Francisco Bay perimeter.

Grindelia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Schinia mortua.

Until the work of Perredes in 1906 the drug was supposed to be derived from Grindelia robusta, and the species now regarded as official were thought to be merely varieties. G. robusta, however, is rarely used.
There are about twenty-five species of the genus, seven or eight being found in South America. The early growth of most of them is covered with a glutinous varnish. They are perennial or biennial herbs or small shrubs, with stems up to half-a-yard long, round, yellow, and smooth, with alternate, light-green, coarsely-toothed leaves having a clasping base. They are easily broken off when dried, so are often found loose in packages. The solitary, terminal flower-heads are large and yellow, both disk and radiate. Taste and odour are slightly aromatic, the former bitter.

The distinctive mark of the genus is the limb of the calyx, consisting of two to eight rigid, narrow awns, which fall early.

The plant was only made widely known to the medical profession in the latter part of the nineteenth century, by Dr. C. A. Canfield, and Mr. J. G. Steele of San Francisco.

Constituents: Grindelia may contain as much as 21 per cent of amorphous resins. Two are dark-coloured, one being soluble in ether, and one soft and greenish, soluble in petroleum spirit. There is also found tannin, laevoglucose, and a little volatile oil. The presence of glucosides has not been confirmed.

Medicinal Action and Uses: Expectorant and sedative, with an action resembling atropine. It has been recommended in cystitis and catarrh of the bladder, but its principal use is in bronchial catarrh, especially when there is any asthmatic tendency. It relieves dyspnoea due to heart disease, has been successfully employed in whooping cough, and as a local application in rhus poisoning, burns, genito-urinary catarrh, etc. As its active principle is excreted from the kidneys, it sometimes produces signs of renal irritation; in chronic catarrh of the bladder it stimulates the mucous membrane.

A homoeopathic tincture is prepared.

Dosage: Of fluid extract, 1/2 to 1 fluid drachm. Of Grindelia, 30 to 40 grains.

The Fluid extract is sometimes continued with liquorice in the proportion of 1/2 drachm of Grindelia to 1 draehm of the Fluid extract of Liquorice, mucilage to 1 oz. (It combines well with yerba santa in equal proportions. - EDITOR.)

Other Species:
G. cuneifolia is a marsh plant, darker greenand less glutinous than G. camporum. It has a variety called paludosa.

G. squarrosa grows on prairies and dry banks. The bracts of the involucre are linear-lanceolate and spreading.

G. robusta var. latifolia is large, hardy, and a native of California.

These are all official varieties.

Selected species:

Grindelia buphthalmoides
Grindelia camporum
Grindelia chiloensis
Grindelia ciliata - goldenweed
Grindelia fraxinipratensis - Ash Meadows gumplant
Grindelia hirsutula
Grindelia integrifolia - Puget Sound gumweed
Grindelia squarrosa
Grindelia stricta - Oregon gumweed

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/g/grinde37.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindelia
http://www.laspilitas.com/plants/331.htm