Yellow and Orange 



Very common in dry woodlands and in roadside thickets 

 from Ontario to Florida, and westward to Nebrasita, is the Rough 

 or Woodland Sunflower (//. divaricatus). Its stem, which is 

 smooth nearly to the summit, does not often exceed three feet in 

 height, though it may be less, or twice as high. Usually all its 

 wide-spread leaves are opposite, sessile, lance-shaped to ovate, 

 slightly toothed, and rough on their upper surface. Few or soli- 

 tary flower-heads, about two inches across, have from eight to 

 fifteen rays round a yellow disk. 



The Thin-leaved or Ten-petalled Sunflower {H. decapetalus), 

 on the contrary, chooses to dwell in moist woods and thickets, 

 beside streams, no farther west than Michigan and Kentucky. 

 Its smooth, branching stem may be anywhere from one foot to 

 five feet tall ; its thin, membranous, sharply saw-edged leaves, 

 from ovate to lance-shaped, with a rounded base, roughest above 

 and soft underneath, are commonly alternate toward the sum- 

 mit, while the lower ones, on slender, petioles, are opposite. 

 There are by no means always ten yellow rays around the yellow 

 disks produced in August and September ; there may be any 

 number from eight to fifteen, although this free-flowering species, 

 like the Pale-leaved Wood Sunflower {H. strumosus), an earlier 

 bloomer, often arranges its "petals" in tens. 



Jerusalem Artichoke, Earth Apple, Canada Potato, Girasole 

 (//. tuber osus), often called Wild Sunflower, too, has an interest- 

 ing history similar to the dark-centred, common garden sunflow- 

 er's. In a musty old tome printed in 1649, and entitled "A Per- 

 fect Description of Virginia," we read that the English planters 

 had ' ' rootes of several kindes. Potatoes, Sparagus, Garrets and 

 Hartichokes " — not the first mention of the artichoke by Anglo- 

 Americans. Long before their day the Indians, who taught them 

 its uses, had cultivated it ; and wherever we see the bright yellow 

 flowers gleaming like miniature suns above roadside thickets and 

 fence rows in the East, we rnay safely infer the spot was once an 

 aboriginal or colonial farm. White men planted it extensively 

 for its edible tubers, which taste not unlike celery root or salsify. 

 As early as 161 7 the artichoke was introduced into Europe, and 

 only twelve years later Parkinson records that the roots had be- 

 come very plentiful and cheap in London. The Italians also 

 cultivated it under the name Girasole Articocco (sunflower arti- 

 choke), but it did not take long for the girasole Xo become cor- 

 rupted into Jerusalem, hence the name Jerusalem Artichoke com- 

 mon to this day. When the greater value of the potato came 

 to be generally recognized, the use of artichoke roots gradually 

 diminished. Quite different from this sunflower is the true arti- 

 choke (Cynara Scolymus), a native of Southern Europe, whose 

 large, unopened flower-heads offer a tiny edible morsel at the 

 base of each petal-like part. 



3S8 



