146 HELIANTHUS MAXIMILIANI. MAXIMILIAx's SUNFLOWER. 



dolle tells us, found it along the river-courses and in grassy places 

 in Missouri. In Lieut. Whipple's report of an exploring expe- 

 dition for a railroad route to the Pacific, along the thirty-fifth 

 parallel, it is recorded as having been found in prairies and 

 ravines on the Canadian River, and as flowering in August. 

 In Engelmann and Grays " Plantce Lindheimerianae," it is noted 

 as growing in " prairies, margins of woods, and deserted fields, 

 common from Houston to the Colorado, flowering in October 

 and November " ; and Mr. Wright, in his travels in Texas and 

 New Mexico, collected it on the San Pedro River. Lawrence, 

 Kansas, where our plant was found by Prof. Snow, seems to be 

 about its northern boundary. From these different localities 

 the student of botanical geography will be able to form a toler- 

 ably fair idea of the limits within which the HeliantJms Maxi- 

 miliani otows. 



o 



The plant from which our drawing was made was given to 

 the writer by Prof. Thurber, and it seems greatly to enjoy the 

 care which it receives under cultivation. Maximilian's Sun- 

 flower is indeed a very handsome plant for the garden, as its 

 narrower leaves take away from it the coarseness of appearance 

 which is an unpleasant feature in some of the other members 

 of the genus. The gray tint of the leaves and stems is also 

 quite peculiar among Sunflowers, and but few people would 

 recognize it as such before the blossoms have opened. En- 

 gelmann and Gray, in the " Plantae Lindheimeriance," before 

 quoted, refer to this tint as a special characteristic, and say 

 that the species is " well distinguished by the cinereous (gray) 

 rou2:hness of the stem and of both surfaces of the lanceolate 

 attenuate-acuminate leaves." The same authors add, however, 

 that the plant becomes much less rough by cultivation. They 

 also mention a variety from the Brazos and the Colorado, which 

 has the leaves much rougher than the typical form. 



In studying the botanical characters of the Composites, the 

 little florets of which each head is composed are of great im- 

 portance. To help the student we have given in Fig. 3 an 



