1446 



HELIANTHUS 



HELIANTHUS 



Sweden, and to some extent to other European markets. 

 Sunflower stems and heads make an excellent paper, 

 and the stems furnish a fine fiber that compares favor- 

 ably with silk. They are, however, generally used for 

 fuel, since the above industries have not been developed. 

 Sunflowers grow readily in many soils, but best 

 results are secured upon light, rich, calcareous or allu- 

 vial land, well supplied with moisture and unshaded by 

 trees. White, clayey and poor 

 soils are unfavorable. Prep- 

 aration of the soil should be 

 thorough, deep fall plowing 

 followed by spring harrowing 

 being preferred to spring prep- 

 aration. The seeds are gener- 

 ally sown in drills running 

 north and south, 

 30 inches apart, 

 9 inches asunder 

 in the drill, and 

 1 inch deep. 

 Sometimes they 

 are transplanted 

 from nursery 

 beds when 4 to 

 6 inches tall. 

 About a week 

 after the plants 

 appear they are 

 thinned to 18 

 inches apart. 

 From four to 

 six pounds of the 

 seed will sow 

 an acre. Culti- 

 vation is the 

 same as for corn, 

 except that when the plants 

 reach a height of 3 to 4 feet, 

 the inferior flower-heads should 

 be removed, leaving only four 

 or five on the principal stem. 

 In windy climates hilling is 

 sometimes necessary to pre- 

 vent blowing down. On some 

 farms the heads are harvested 

 as they ripen and placed upon 

 floors or movable pole-racks to 

 dry. Upon larger areas they 

 are cut to the ground when 

 most of the heads have ripened 

 and piled, heads up, to cure. 

 The former method insures a 

 much higher grade of oil, and 

 is therefore preferred. Every 

 effort is made to prevent fermentation, either in the 

 heads or in the pile of seeds, since this injures the 

 quality of the oil. When thoroughly dry the heads are 

 either placed on racks or piled, face downward, on a 

 floor and beaten with flails. The seeds are then spread 

 thinly, shoveled over occasionally, and allowed to 

 become perfectly dry before being sent to the mill. 

 The average yield is about fifty bushels to the acre. 

 The percentage of husks ranges from 40 to 60; and the 

 oil from 15 to 28. As a general rule, 100 bushels of 

 seed will yield 33 bushels of kernels, 100 bushels of 

 kernels from 280 to 320 gallons of oil of both qualities. 

 Russian sunflower, a large-seeded variety, producing a 

 single head, grows 8 feet tall, but is less esteemed for 

 oil-production than the small-seeded varieties. In 

 America the sunflower industry is small. 



The red sunflower. (T. D. A. Cockerell.) 



In the summer of 1910 Mrs. Cockerell found a red 

 sunflower growing by the roadside close to her home 

 at Boulder, Colorado. It was a variation of the native 



1794. Helianthus 



debilis. (Nearly 



half size) 



sunflower of the plains (Helianthus annuus var. lentic- 

 ularis, or H. lenticularis) , having the rays suffused with 

 chestnut-red. It was named var. coronatus, the arrange- 

 ment of the red, with the black disk, suggesting the sun 

 in eclipse, with its corona. Since the sunflower is sterile 

 with its own pollen, it was necessary to cross the red 

 one with yellow-rayed kinds, such as the garden H. 

 annuus, and the yellow-rayed wild plant. The next sum- 

 mer, it was found that about half the progeny had red 

 rays: it was determined that red was dominant, and 

 assumed that the plant originally found was hetero- 

 zygous for red, through variation occurring in a germ- 

 cell. Crossing red with red, homozygous or pure-bred 

 reds were obtained, with very rich colors. Most sun- 

 flowers carry a factor for marking, which affects the 

 distribution of red, so that many of the flowers were 

 bicplored with the ends of the rays yellow (var. bicolor) 

 while others had a ring of red (var. zonatus). Some 

 had the rays entirely chestnut-red (var. ruberrimus). 

 A variety obtained in 1914 had the rays practically 

 black. So far, the red of the red sunflowers was a 

 chestnut, or brown-red. The pigment, however, be- 

 longs to the anthocyan group, and is chestnut only 

 because seen on a background of orange. In order to 

 obtain a new color, the homozygous red was crossed 

 with Sutton's primrose variety (var. primulinus, Ckll., 

 "Science," August 29, 1913, page 312). In the first gen- 

 eration (raised in the greenhouse during the winter) the 

 flowers were all red on orange, or chestnut-red. These 

 crossed together gave seventy-one chestnut-red, nine- 

 teen yellow, twenty-five wine-red and eight primrose; 

 theoretical expectation, according to Mendel's law, 

 being sixty-nine, twenty-three, twenty-three, and 

 eight. The wine-red is due to the same anthocyan 

 pigment, but on a primrose-yellow (pale yellow) back- 

 ground. In good examples, the color is nearly that 

 known as "old rose." The various patterns are as in 

 the chestnut-red forms. The wine-red sunflower was 

 named var. vinosus. In addition to the above, various 

 other varieties have been developed, including red and 

 wine-red semi-doubles and doubles. There are also 

 hybrids with Helianthus cucumerifolius, of relatively 

 small stature and with shiny foliage. One of these 

 hybrids, represented in the 1914 cultures by a number 

 of plants, may be described as follows: About 4 feet 

 high, spreading, much branched: stems speckled with 

 purple: leaves dark green, very shiny; blades broad 

 and short, strongly dentate: involucral bracts with 

 long tapering ends (but not so long as in true H. 

 cucumerifolius'); disk small (about 1 inch diameter); 

 rays ample, broad, numerous, with basal half rich 

 chestnut, apical half bright lemon; disk very dark. 

 This is a plant of the second generation from the origi- 

 nal cross. For further details see "Popular Science 

 Monthly," April 1912; "Science," August 29, 1913, 

 pages 312, 313; August 21, 1914, pages 283-285, 

 November 13, 1914, pages 708, 709 and January 1, 

 1915, pages 33, 34. "Garden Magazine," July, 1914. 

 The red sunflower is now offered by the trade in 

 America, England, Germany and Italy. It has also been 

 grown successfully in Australia and New Zealand. 



