SUN-FLOWER, &c. 147 



Oft has His arm, all strong to save, 

 Protected my defenceless head 

 From ills I never could perceive, 

 Nor could my feeble .hand have stay'd. 



Then shall I still pursue my way 

 O'er the wild desert's sun-burnt soil, 

 To where the ocean's swelling spray 

 Washes my long'd-for native isle. 



SUN-FLOWER, MARIGOLD, AND HELIOTROPE. 



The Sun-flower does not derive its name, as some have 

 supposed, from turning to the sun, but from the resem- 

 blance of the full-blown flower to the sun itself: Gerard 

 remarks, that he has seen four of these flowers on the 

 same stem, pointing to the four cardinal points. This 

 flower is a native of Mexico and Peru, and looks as if 

 it grew from their own gold. It flowers from June to 

 October. 



The principal species of Sun-flower are — the Dwarf 

 Annual, the Perennial, the Dark Red, and the narrow- 

 leaved. 



Several of the Sun-flowers are natives of Canada, where 



they are much admired and cultivated by the inhabitants, 



in gardens, for their beauty; in the United States we 



sow whole acres of land with them, for the purpose of 



U 



