Compass Plant

Chase County, Flint Hills Region of Kansas

The tallgrass prairie can be a hot & desiccative environment. Plants have to have developed a physiology to minimize water loss. The Compass Plant has a unique strategy. Its foliage is more or less planar, and oriented in a north/south direction so that its broad leaf surface never faces directly to the noon sun. With a few exceptions, you could navigate by the orientation of Compass Plant leaves.

Another adaptive strategy is its characteristically deep taproot, burrowing some 9 to 14 feet below the surface. It takes a pretty serious & prolonged drought to take on a Compass Plant!