HEUANTIIUS MAXIMILIAN!. MAXIMILIANS SUNFLOWKK. l.\J 



enlarged drawing, which will not only show tlic form and rela- 

 tive position of a floret of IlcliantJius Maxifni/iaiii, but niay 

 also serve to exhibit the generic character of JlcUanthiis as a 

 whole. In many of the plants classed together as Composites 

 the form of the receptacle, or ii^ther words of the mass on 

 which the florets are placed (see l#in Fig. 3), is of generic im- 

 portance. We see here that it is conoidal or "convex," as Dr. 

 Gray describes it. The long, slender achene or ovary, which 

 finally forms the seed (A, Fig. 3), is also shown in our drawing, 

 wdth three of its four angles visible ; and on the upper part of 

 the achene we may notice the "pappus (P, P, Fig. 3) of two thin 

 chaffy scales, corresponding with the outer and inner angle of 

 the achene." Then we have the tube (T) with its slender base, 

 the ampliated base of the upper and thicker part of the corolla, 

 and the recurved lobes; and, protruding from the mouth of the 

 corolla, we see the tube formed by the united anthers (A'), 

 through which the style wdth its two stigmas (S) has pushed its 

 way. The shape of the tube of the corolla is not noted in our 

 text-books, but is very characteristic. Each floret is also sur- 

 rounded by chaff on the receptacle, but this we have had to 

 omit, as otherwise we could not have shown the achene. Ct)m- 

 pound flowers {Composita:) have a great general resemblance, 

 and the student is therefore likely to be puzzled in trying to 

 distinguish the various genera and species. But when ex- 

 amined in detail, as we have just examined the floret of our 

 H. Maximiliani, they show points of great dissimilarity; and 

 there are few orders which more thoroughly arouse the enthu- 

 siasm of the botanist than that of the ConipositcCy after he has 

 once learned to understand them. 



The 2:eneric name, IldiantJuis, is from the Greek, and Hterallv 

 means " Sunflower." According to Milne, Linna-us was induced 

 to select this name by the "obvious resemblance" of the large 

 flowers "to the disk or body of the sun, the florets at the cir- 

 cumference resemblinc: the rays of tliat luminarv." The an- 

 cients also had a Sunilower, known as the "Turn-Sok" i^ 



