Tas. 7555. 
HELIANTHUS GIGANTEUS. 
Native of North America. 
Nat. Ord. Composira.—Tribe HELIANTHOIDER, 
Genus Hetiantuvs, Linn. ; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 376.) 
Hewiantaus giganteus ; 6-10-pedalis, asperulus, superne ramosus, rhizomate 
repente radicibus incrassatis, foliis alternis sessilibus v. breviter petiolatis 
lanceolatis oblongo-lanceolatisve acuminatis basi angustatis serratis 
subserratisve penninerviis, capitulis 23-33 poll. latis subcorymbosis, 
involucri bracteis subzqualibus lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis laxe 
appressis hispidis, receptaculi squamis dorso pubescentibus, radii ligulis 
15-20, 1-13 pollicaribus, fl. disci aureis glaberrimis. 
H. giganteus, Linn. Sp. Pl. 905. Ait. Hort. Kew, vol. ii. p. 409. DC. Prodr. 
vol, v. p. 589. Torr. & Gray Fl. N. Amer. vol. ii. p. 325 (excl. var. B). 
Hook. Fl. Bor. Am, vol. i. p. 312. A. Gray, Bot. N. Un. St. Ed. 5, p. 256; 
Synopt. Fl. N. Am.; Gamopet. p. 276. 
H. altissimus, Linn. Sp. Pl. Ed. 2, vol. ii. p. 1278. Jacq. Hort. Vind. t. 162. 
H. gigas, Michw. Fl. Bor. Am. vol. ii. p. 141. 
H. fol. lanceolat. sessil., Gronov. Fl. Virgin. p. 104. 
Chrysanthemum virginicum elatius, &c. Pluk. Phytog. pars. iii. t. 159, f. 5, 
et Almagest. p. 99, t. 159, f. 5. 
C. virginicum altiss., &. Morison Plant. Hist. vol. iii. p. 24, t. 7, f. 66, 67. 
Helianthus giganteus is a very old inhabitant of such 
English gardens as were devoted to the cultivation of 
exotic plants. The earliest mention of it that I have found 
is in Plukenett’s ‘‘ Phytographia,” published in 1692; 
and it is included by Morison in his “ Plantarum Historia 
Universalis Oxoniensis,” published in 1699, but who does 
not state whether it was then cultivated in England. 
_ Gronovius, in his account of the plants collected by J. Clay- 
ton, who went to Virginia in 1705, gives a terse diagnosis 
of it; and its introduction was possibly due to Clayton, for 
Aiton states that it was cultivated in 1714 by the Duchess 
of Beaufort. In North America it has a very wide range, 
from the St. Lawrence to Louisiana, and in the West from 
the Red River and Saskatchewan southward. It so 
strongly resembles H. tuberosus (Tab. 7545), having 
similar roots, that a low northern form, the “ Indian 
Potato of the Asiniboine tribe”’ has been confounded with 
SEPTEMBER Ist, 1897. 
