HELTANTHUS MAXIMILIANI. 



MAXIMILIAN'S SUNI<^L0WI':R. 



NATURAL ORDER, COMPOSIT/i:. (ASTKRACK.K OK I.IXDLKV.) 



llr.LiANTHUS Maximii.iani, Schrader. — Cauline leaves opposite, those of the branchlcts 

 alternate, lanceolate, sub-serrate, scabrous, often narrowed into a short petiole ; involu- 

 cral scales lanceolate-linear, acuminate, somewhat hispid. (Dc Candolle's Prodrovius 

 Systcmatis Naturalis Regiii Vegetabilis, Part VII. See also Torrey and Gray's Flora 

 of A'o/th America, Vol. II.) 



ELIANTHUS i.s the Sunflower, and the .species to 

 which this chapter is devoted was named Hclianihus 

 I\Iaxiiniliani — in honor of Prince MaximiHan von Wied- 

 Neuwied — by Henry Adolph Schrader, a very industrious 

 botanist of Gottingen, w:ho flourished in the earlier part of 

 this century. Prince MaximiHan was a naturahst of distinction, 

 and travelled extensively in America, visiting Brazil in iSi5-i~, 

 and the United States some years later. The results of his 

 researches he gave to the world in a series of magnificent 

 volumes, two of which, accompanied by an atlas, and i^ublishcd 

 at Coblenz in 183S-43, are devoted to his "Journey Througli 

 North America," by which title they are known. It was while 

 travelling in Missouri that the prince, according to I)e Can- 

 dolle, discovered the flower afterwards named for him. 



Our species does not seem to be very well known to Ameri- 

 can botanists, as it is seldom recorded as having been met with. 

 It is not mentioned by any of the writers who treat of the 

 botany of the country lying east of the Missouri and Mississippi 

 Rivers, and it is probably confined to the hot and dry regions 

 extending west of the Mississippi. Prince Maximilian, I )e Can- 



