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SUNFLOWER

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 103 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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SUNFLOWER . The See also:

COMMON

common sunflower, known botanically as Helianthus annuus, a member of the natural See also:

order See also:

COMPOSITAE

Compositae, is a native of the western See also:

UNITED

United States. It is an See also:

ANNUAL

annual See also:

HERB (Lat. herba, grass, food for cattle, generally taken to represent the Old Lat. forbea, Gr. 4op(3i1, pasture, <0p/3Ew, to feed, Sans. bharb, to eat)

herb with a rough hairy See also:

STEM (O. Eng. staefn, stemn, cf. Du. stain, Ger. Stamm, &c., probably related to " staff ")

stem 3 to 12 ft. high, broad coarsely toothed rough leaves 3• to 12 in, See also:

long, and heads of See also:

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

flowers 3 to 6 in. wide in See also:

WILD, JONATHAN (c. 1682-1725)

wild specimens and often a See also:

FOOT

foot or more in cultivated. See also:

Double forms are in cultivation, one (globosus fistulosus) having very large globular heads. The plant is valuable from an economic as well as from an ornamental point of view. The leaves are used as See also:

FODDER

fodder, the flowers yield a yellow dye, and the seeds contain oil and are used for See also:

food. It is cultivated in See also:

Russia and other parts of See also:

EUROPE

Europe, in See also:

EGYPT

Egypt and See also:

India and in several parts of See also:

England hundreds of See also:

PLANTS

plants are grown on sewage farms for the seeds. The yellow sweet oil obtained by See also:

COMPRESSION

compression from the seeds is considered equal to See also:

OLIVE (Olea europaea)

olive or See also:

ALMOND (from the O. Fr. almande or alemande, late Lat. amandola, derived through a form amingdola from the Gr. l uybian, an almond; the al- for a- is probably due to a confusion with the Arabic article al, the word having first dropped the a- as in the It

almond oil for table use. Sunflower oilcake is used for stock and poultry feeding; and largely exported by Russia to See also:

Denmark, See also:

Sweden and elsewhere. The genus Helianthus contains about fifty See also:

SPECIES

species, chiefly natives of See also:

North See also:

AMERICA

America, a few being found in See also:

Peru and See also:

CHILE, or CHILI (derived, it is said, from the Quichua chin , cold, or tchili, snow)

Chile. They are tall, See also:

hardy annual or perennial herbs, several of which are well known in gardens where they are of easy cultivation in moderately See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good See also:

SOIL

soil. H. decapetalus is a perennial about 5 ft. high with solitary heads about 2 in. across in slender twiggy branchlets; H. mulliftorus is a beautiful species with several handsome double varieties; H. orygalis is a graceful perennial 6 to to ft. high, with drooping See also:

WILLOW (Salix)

willow-like leaves and numerous comparativelysmall yellow See also:

flower-heads.

H. atrorubens, better known as Harpaliuin rigidum, is a smaller plant, 2 to 3 ft. high, the flower heads of which have a dark red or See also:

PURPLE

purple disk and yellow rays. There are many See also:

FINE

fine forms of this now, some of which grow 6 to 9 ft. high and have much larger and finer flowers than the type. Other fine species are H. giganteus, to to 12 ft.; H. laetiflorus, 6 to 8 ft., and H. mollis, 3 to 5 ft. H. tuberoses is the See also:

Jerusalem See also:

ARTICHOKE

artichoke. Since the word " sunflower," or something corresponding to it, existed in See also:

ENGLISH

English literature before the introduction of Helianthus annuus, or, at any See also:

RATE

rate, before its See also:

general See also:

DIFFUSION (from the Lat. diffundere; dis-, asunder, and fundere, to pour out)

diffusion in English gardens, it is obvious that some other flower must have been intended. The See also:

MARIGOLD

marigold (Calendula officinalis) is considered by Dr See also:

Prior to have been the plant intended by See also:

OVID [PUBLIUS OvID1us NASO] (43 B.C.–A.D. 17)

Ovid (Met. iv. 269–270) " . Ilia suum, quai,mvis radice tenetur, Vertitur ad solem; mutataque servat amorem " and likewise the solsaece of the Anglo-Saxon, a word See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent to solsequium (See also:

sun-following). But this See also:

MOVEMENT

movement with the sun is more imaginary than real, the better explanation for the application of the name to a flower being afforded by the re-semblance to " the radiant beams of the sun," as See also:

Gerard expresses it. The See also:

rock-See also:

rose (Helianthemum vulgare) was also termed sunflower in some of the herbals from its flowers opening only in the See also:

SUNSHINE

sunshine. Actinella grandiflora, a See also:

PRETTY

pretty perennial 6 to 9 in. high, from the See also:

COLORADO

Colorado mountains, is known as the Pigmy sunflower.

End of Article: SUNFLOWER

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