Cultivated-Plant Study 633 



appreciate fully this procession of the bloom of the sunflower from its rim 

 to its center, we need to watch it day by day then only can its beauty 

 become a part of us. 



The great, green bracts, with their long pointed tips, which "shingle" 

 the house of every sunflower family, should be noted with care, because 

 these bracts have manifold forms in the great Compositae family ; and the 

 pupil should learn to recognize this part of the flower-head, merely from 

 its position. In the burdocks, these bracts form the hooks which fasten 

 to the passer-by; in the thistle, they form the prickly vase about the 

 blossom ; while in the pearly everlasting, they make the beautiful, white, 

 shell-like mass of the flower which we treasure as immortal. In the sun- 

 flower, these bracts are very ornamental, being feltlike outside and very 

 smooth inside, bordered with fringes of pretty hairs, which may be seen 

 best through a lens. They overlap each other regularly in circular rows, 

 and each bract is bent so as to fit around the disk. 



In looking at a mass of garden sunflowers, we are convinced that the 

 heavy heads bend the stems, and this is probably true, in a measure. 

 But the stems are very solid and firm, and the bend is as stiff as the elbow 

 of a stovepipe ; and after examining it, we are sure that this bend is made 

 with the connivance of the stem, rather than despite it. Probably most 

 people, the world over, believe that sunflowers twist their stems so that 

 their blossoms face the sun all day. This belief shows the utter content- 

 ment of most people with a pretty theory. If you believe it, you had best 

 ask the first sunflower you see if it is true, and she will answer you if you 

 will ask the question morning, noon and night. My own observations 

 make me believe that the sunflower, during the later weeks of its bloom, is 

 like the Mohammedan, keeping its face toward the east. True, I have 

 found many exceptions to this rule, although I have seen whole fields of 

 sunflowers facing eastward, when the setting sun was gilding the backs of 

 their great heads. If they do turn with the sun, it must be in the period 

 of earliest blossoming before they become heavy with ripening seeds. 



The sunflower seed is eagerly sought by many birds, and it is raised 

 extensively for chicken-feed. The inadequate little pappus falls off, and 

 the seeds are set, large end up, in the very ornamental diamond-shaped 

 sockets. They finally become loosened, and now we see a reason for the 

 bending flower-head ; for, as the great stem is assaulted by the winds of 

 autumn, the bended heads shake out their seed and scatter them far 

 afield. 



LESSON CLX 

 THE SUNFLOWER 



Leading thought The sunflower is not a single flower, but is a large 

 family of flowers living together; and each little flower, or floret, as it is 

 called, has its own work to do for the family welfare. 



Method Early in September, when school first opens, is the time for 

 this lesson. If sunflowers are growing near by, they should be studied 

 where they stand; and their story may thus be more completely told. 

 Otherwise, a sunflower should be brought to the schoolroom and placed in 

 w-ater. If one is selected which has just begun to blossom, it will show, 

 day by day, the advance of the blossoming ranks. I have kept such a 

 flower fourteen days, and it blossomed cheerfully from its rim to its very 



