[3] Tea brewed from the roots of the prairie dock have a variety of medical applications in Native American culture.

[3][5] The leaves are rough-textured, spade-shaped, and oriented vertically and in a north–south direction, providing special adaptations for survival in the prairie climate.

[6] The combination of north–south and vertical arrangement seems to provide a mechanism for maintaining lower leaf temperatures at midday, thus conserving water.

Additionally, this unique trait grants the plant better access to sunlight for photosynthesis, and consequently provides a more efficient method of producing its carbon resource.

[5][7] Silphium terebinthinaceum is native in the United States from Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas to the west, Wisconsin to the north, Virginia to the east, and Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to the South.

[5] Silphium terebinthinaceum can survive destructive events such as grazing and soil degradation because of its ability to produce new above-ground shoots.