WEEDS OF THE (THISTLE FAMILY. 



173 



"The sunflower turns on her god when he sets 

 The same look Which she did when he rose." 



Another reason for the name is that the flowers of the larger species 

 have a fancied resemblance to the orb of day. 



The two best known species of sunflower, both of which grow 

 wild in Indiana, are the common sunflower (H. annum L.) and the 

 Jerusalem artichoke {H. tuberosus L.). The former is often culti- 

 vated in gardens where it sometimes reaches a height of 15 feet and 

 a head diameter of a foot or more. "Its flowers yield honey and 

 a yellow dye; its leaves fodder; its seeds an oil and food, and its 

 stalks a textile fabric."* In some parts of the west and south it is 

 a troublesome weed, but in Indiana the wild plants are escapes from 

 cultivation. In the southeastern part of the State sunflowers are 

 raised extensively for the seed, the average yield of the crop being 

 800 to 1,000 pounds per acre. Sulzer Bros, of Madison purchased 

 in 1911, 100,000 pounds of the seed at 2 cents a pound. The seeds 

 there grown are used mostly to feed cage birds, chickens, horses 

 and other stock. In Russia and other European countries the seeds 

 are grown on a much more extensive scale for their oil, which is 

 expressed and used on the table like olive oil and also for lighting 

 and soap making. The residual oil cakes have a high nutritive 

 value and are used for feeding stock. 



The Jerusalem artichoke or 

 "earth apple," (Fig. 132), with 

 its large rough lower opposite 

 or upper alternate leaves, was 

 extensively cultivated by the In- 

 dians for its oblong edible tubers 

 which are offshoots from the 

 fleshy thickened rootstocks. The 

 plant is at present often grown 

 for these tubers which are fed 

 to stock or are pickled and used 

 as a condiment. In many places 

 in the State it grows rankly as 

 a weed in alluvial or moist rich 

 soil, reaching a height of 6-12 

 feet, and blooming 10 days or a 

 fortnight later than its allies. 



Fig. 132. Flowering branch, root and tubers; o, ray- ° 



flower; 6, disk-flower; c, fruit. (After Watson.) Rotll it and other Sunflowers, 



where too abundant, can be destroyed by cultivation, repeated 

 mowing, or by deep cutting and free use of salt. 



•Britton and Brown, III, 422. 



