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Madia
Also called Madias, Tarweeds
Madia is a genus of annual or perennial usually aromatic herbs with yellow flowers, in the tribe Madieae within the family Asteraceae.
They are sometimes known as tarweeds. The species in this genus are native to western North America and southwestern South America. The name Madia is derived from native Chilean name ("Madi") for one of the members of the genus (Madia sativa). Tarweeds derive their common name from the intense stickiness of the plant.
The dark seeds (achenes) of tarweeds are used as food by many birds and small mammals, including mourning doves, quail, blackbirds, finches, Oregon juncos, California horned larks, western meadowlarks, American pipits, sparrows, towhees, chipmunks, ground squirrels, and mice. Cottontail rabbits, ground squirrels, and chipmunks eat the plants.
Tarweeds produce abundant seed, are agreeably aromatic and oily, and form an important part of the small seeds used in pinole. Tarweed and other seeds in pinole formed a staple food in the diet of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Coast. In particular, the seeds of gumweed (Madia elegans ssp. densifolia) were among the most valued by the Miwok people for pinole. The Hupa, Cahuilla,
Plumpseeded madia · Common madia · Small tarweed · Mountain tarweed · Grassy tarweed · Golden madia · Coast tarweed
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Madia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
