WILD FLOWERS yellow and orange 



died about the streets of Russia, like peanuts, except 

 they are eaten raw. The Sunflower also yields a by- 

 product used in making soap and candles. The 

 stems and heads make an excellent paper, and are used 

 for fuel. The seeds are also used as food for parrots 

 and for fattening poultry and swine. The foliage 

 has been used for fodder, and the flowers yield honey 

 and also a yellow dye. The tall, stout, rough, hairy 

 stalk is leafy, and branches at the top. It grows 

 annually from three to six feet high, or in cultivated 

 forms, sometimes fifteen feet high. The large, alter- 

 nating, long-stemmed leaves are broadly oval with a 

 tapering tip; strongly three-nerved, coarsely toothed, 

 and rough on both sides. The lower ones are often 

 heart-shaped. The flower heads of the wild species, 

 which measure from three to six inches broad, are 

 composed of numerous dark purple or brown tubular 

 disc florets, surrounded by a row of long, curving, 

 flaring yellow rays, contained in a flat green mat 

 edged with several rows of pointed green parts. They 

 terminate the stalk and stout stems springing from the 

 axils of the leaves. The Wild Sunflower is found 

 from July to September, in rich soils, from Minne- 

 sota to the Northwest Territory, Missouri, and Texas 

 and California. Occasionally it is found in waste 

 ground eastward, where it has escaped from gardens. 

 The generic name is from helios, the sun, and 

 anthos, a flower. The heads face the sun, and usually 

 turn in its direction. There are about sixty species 

 belonging to this group which are native to our hemis- 



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