9 



by many tribes at present. Dr. Asa Gray, who carefully studied the 

 history of the sunflower, makes the following statement : 



Judging from the breadth of the flower heads soon after its introduction into Eu- 

 rope, it must in aboriginal hands have assumed much of the abnormal development 

 which distinguishes the cultivated sunflower from its wild original of the Western 

 plains. 1 



DEVELOPMENT OF VARIETIES. 



In western Europe and America, where the sunflower has been 

 grown chiefly for ornamental purposes or occasionally for poultry 

 food, there has been apparently little improvement or development in 

 large varieties during the three and a half centuries of cultivation. 

 Seeds 6 to 10 mm. in length, as large as those of ordinary varieties at 

 the present time, were figured by Camerarius 2 in 1586. More varie- 

 ties are grown purely for ornamental purposes than for the produc- 

 tion of seeds, but several of the ornamental sunflowers are derived 

 from other species. 



In Russia, where the numerous religious fasts restricting the use of 

 meat lead to a large consumption of vegetable oils and oily foods, the 

 sunflower seed has become almost a staple 

 article of diet. It is eaten raw or roasted as 

 peanuts are in America, but much more ex- 

 tensively. Between 1830 and 1840 sunflower 

 oil began to be manufactured on a commer- 

 cial scale in the southern provinces of Rus- FIG. i. Akenes (seeds) of sun- 

 sia, and since that time a series of important %%%?* "" 



industries based On the production of Oil and vated plants; e, from wild plant; 



oil cake has been developed there. This has f ' transiverse section - 

 led to the development of more prolific seed-producing varieties. 



There are three principal varieties now cultivated in Russia one 

 with large white seeds, which are said to yield the largest amount of 

 oil; one with smaller black seeds, which are sweeter and regarded as 

 best for eating; .and an intermediate form with striped seeds, used both 

 for eating and for the production of oil. There are numerous inter- 

 grading forms, as may be found in most plants long in cultivation. 



In the United States three principal varieties are grown for the pro- 

 duction of seeds. The common sunflower, with no distinguishing 

 varietal name, has been long cultivated here and is now found in gar- 

 dens in all parts of the country. Its nodding heads are 8 to 16 inches 

 in diameter, producing chiefly gray-brownish or striped seeds. The 

 mammoth Russian is a recently introduced variety, with heads 15 to 20 

 inches in diameter, producing seeds about one-half inch long, with 

 black or brownish stripes or sometimes all white (fig. 1, a, b). The 



1 Asa Gray, with J. Hammond TrumbuK, Review of De Candolle's Origin of Cul- 

 tivated Plants. Am. Journ. Sci. and Arts, 3 ser., 25-245 (1883). 



2 Camerarius, Epitome Plantis Utilissima, 503 (1586). 



