THE RED SUNFLOWER 



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In Dreer's Catalogue of 1911 appears the following: 

 The Eed Sunflower, Helianthus cucumerifolius purpureus. A red annual 

 sunflower has long been looked for, and this new hybrid strain seems to be the 

 forerunner of a really bright red variety, containing as it does a large range of 

 colors, from light pink to deep purplish red. 



This is a garden variety of the small 

 Heliantlms dehilis, which we under- 

 stand originated in Italy. We pur- 

 chased seed;, which produced good 

 plants, but showing hardly any red, 

 and that of a dingy color. We hear 

 from others that this variety has 

 been a great disappointment, but 

 are told that the originator is still 

 working on it. In any event, it is an 

 entirely different plant from ours. 

 A famous discovery somewhat 

 parallel to that of the red sunflower 

 is that of the Shirley poppy, which 

 is described in Bailey's " Cyclopedia 

 of American Horticulture " as " the 

 loveliest of all poppies " and " one 

 of the finest contributions to flori- 

 cVilture ever made by an amateur." 

 The Eev. W. Wilks, of Shirley in 

 England, gives the following ac- 

 count of his discovery and develop- 

 ment of this poppy. This was written without any knowledge of Men- 

 delism, and can not at once be reduced to Mendelian terms. It is evi- 

 dent, however, that the Shirk}'' is a minus variation (loss of black pig- 

 ment), and may be expected to behave as a recessive.' 



In 1880, I noticed in a waste corner of my garden, abutting on the fields, in 

 a patch of the common wild field poppy (Papaver rhceas), one solitary flower 

 the petals of which had a very narrow edge of white. This one flower I marked, 

 and saved the seed of it alone. Next year, out of perhaps two hundred plants, 

 I had four or five on which all the flowers were edged. The best of these were 

 marked and the seed saved, and so on for several years, the flowers all the while 

 getting a larger infusion of white to tone down the red, until they arrived at a 

 quite pale pink, and one plant absolutely pure white. I then set myself to 

 change the black central portions of the flowers, from black to yellow or white, 

 and at last fixed a strain with petals varying in color from the brightest scarlet 

 to pure white, with all shades of pink between, and all varieties of flakes and 

 edged flowers also, but all having yellow or white stamens, anthers and pollen, 

 and a white base. . . . My ideal is to get a yellow Papaver rhceas, and I have 

 already obtained many distinct shades of salmon. The Shirley poppies have thus 

 been obtained simply by selection and elimination. . . . Let it be noticed that 

 true Shirley poppies (1) are single, (2) always have a white base, with (3) 



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Diagram showing the Cross Rus- 

 sian AND Red Sunflower, the manner 

 of growth of the progeny in 1911 and 

 the expected result for 1912. 



