thebashfulbotanist:

This is cup plant, Silphium perfoliatum. It’s a really interesting plant normally found on prairies – this one was in the Nerstrand Big Woods State Park in Minnesota, which is a little unusual. They’re often planted in habitat restoration projects, since bees and butterflies love them. The name “cup plant” comes from the cup-like perfoliate leaves, which collect water and often help keep the plant cool in hot summer conditions.

Cup plant has been used by humans for hundreds of years for various purposes.The sap was used as a sort of chewing gum with some medicinal purposes, young leaves were eaten as a kind of salad, and other parts, including the rhizome, were used medicinally. Native Americans used this plant for everything from preventing nausea to treating coughs – today it has been suggested that it can do all sorts of things, from increasing antibody production to lowering cholesterol, although scientific studies are few.