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Like other Silphium spp., Rosinweed has a fragrant resin while in flower, which was chewed as gum by Amerindian children. It is less dramatic in appearance than some of its gigantic cousins, but matures more quickly and tolerates drought as well or better. Rosinweed resembles many Helianthus spp. (Sunflowers), but its disk florets are sterile and ray florets are fertile. The Sunflowers, on the other hand, have fertile disk florets and sterile ray florets. Rosinweed tends to produce flowers earlier than the Sunflowers, but sometimes their blooming periods overlap. While this plant can form sizable clumps, it doesn't spread as aggressively by means of underground rhizomes as many Sunflower species, nor is it known to be allelopathic. Return