Sunflower garden at Houlder. wliere the red sunflowers were developed, 

 hidden among her jdnnts 



Mrs. Cockerell is half 



The Story of the Red Sunflower 



By T. I). A. (' () (• K H 1{ K L L 



Professor of Zoology, University of Colorado 



Till-', nrioinal vrd simtlowci' was 

 r<iiiiiil liy .Mrs. ( 'i)ck('i'cll clo.^c 

 til i>ur limix' ill IJoiildcr. Colo- 

 rado. Ainoiiii" many wild sunflowers 

 i^rowiiii: hy the roadside was a sino;le 

 individual in wliicii the rays were siif- 

 fusc'd with ciu'stnut-rcd. It was at 

 once recojrnized that here was an opjior- 

 tunity for the ])roduetion of a new lior- 

 tieultural ty]i('. as well as for seientifie 

 investigation. The plant was duii' u)) 

 and removed to the uardeii. where it 

 eontiiuu'd to liloom until the end <d' 

 the .reason. 'I'lie .-untlower heiiiLi" <iii 

 annual, and at the same time infertile 

 with its own pollen, the only p()ssiV)le 

 way to jireserve the new variety was hy 

 erossin<r with the more ordinary sorts. 

 This was done, and in the followini:- 

 year many plants with reddened ray^ 

 were ]»ro(lnce<l. These could now 1) • 



crossed on one another, and a ]ieriiia- 

 nently red strain olitaiiied. Today the 

 ri'd sunflower may li<' found in gardens 

 in Europe and America, and even in 

 Australia. Xew Zealand, and South 

 Africa, all the plants heing de.>^cendants 

 of the single wild s|>orf which a]ipeared 

 at Boulder in ID 10. 



The eiirreiit manuals of h')tany. at 

 lea.-t ill .\iiierica. pay very little atti'ii- 

 tioii to \ariat ion. I ii the new edit imi of 

 Dr. Britton's lUusiralnl Flora descrij)- 

 tions of varieties have heen omitte(l al- 

 together. This may he iiece>sary in a 

 work of such scojh-, wiiere only the 

 l)riefest outline of the flora is possihle. 

 Anything like a full treatment of vari- 

 eties would douhle the size of the vol- 

 umes, with necessarily a corres])onding 

 increase in cost. Xevertheless. we must 

 some day have a work on American 



39 



