THE RED SUNFLOWER 59 



These patterns are the same for the chestnut as for the 

 wine-red. The rays may be entirely red, or the ends 

 may be yellow or orange. Sometimes the red is con- 

 fined to the middle of the ray, and the whole effect is 

 that of a red ring on an orange ground. These patterns 

 are inherited independently of the color, so that a flower 

 may have the pattern factor, yet no development of 

 anthocyanin to make it manifest. It is a remarkable 

 fact that photography will reveal the patterns in appar- 

 ently uniform rays, showing that there is already some- 

 thing there, not readily appreciated by our eyes. The 

 patterns of another species of sunflower, Helianthus 

 cucumerifolius, are quite different from those of the 

 H. annuus. 



ii. The combinations of color and pattern give quite Various 



. - . . ..... . sunflower 



a variety of forms, but there are in addition many varia- varieties 

 tions in structure. Some of these are horticulturally 

 worthless, though scientifically interesting - such as 

 the variety tortuosus, with the ends of the rays twisted 

 as though in curl papers. There are so-called doubles, 

 in which all the florets are ligulate or rayed. The rays 

 may be in two or three rows, an approach to the type 

 of the star dahlias. Some forms have the rays cleft at 

 the end. Perhaps the most interesting recent develop- 

 ment is the collarette, in which the rays have a narrow, 

 more or less curled lobe attached near the base, after 

 the manner of the well-known collarette dahlia. These 

 modifications affect the .flowers, but they may be com- 

 bined with various growth forms, and hybrids are pos- 

 sible between different species - - even between annuals 

 and perennials. It will thus be evident that the possi- 

 bilities are so numerous that we can have no idea at 

 present of their limits. What the dahlia has done, in 

 its horticultural history of about a century, the sun- 



