Compass plant , Compass flower Meaning, Definition & Usage

Definitions
  1. (Bot.), a plant of the American prairies (Silphium laciniatum), not unlike a small sunflower; rosinweed. Its lower and root leaves are vertical, and on the prairies are disposed to present their edges north and south.
    Its leaves are turned to the north as true as the magnet: This is the compass flower. Longefellow.

Webster 1913