YELLOW AND ORANGE WILD FLOWERS 
are rather loose-textured, and the margins are fre- 
quently slightly notched with low teeth. The flower 
heads are few or solitary. The tiny disc florets are 
densely packed in a purple brown, cone-shaped head, 
that has a smooth, silky sheen when newly opened. 
They are surrounded at the base with from ten to 
twenty long, narrow, orange-yellow rays. They 
are notched at the tips, and have two faint 
parallel veins running their length. The flower 
head is supported with an overlapping, triple-rowed, 
green mat, which terminates the stem. They are 
found in dry, open, sunny fields, from Canada to 
Florida, Colorado, and Texas. 
COMMON SUNFLOWER. LARABELL 
Helianthus dnnuus. Thistle Family. 
The Sunflowers are native to this country, and this 
species is extensively cultivated in Russia, India, 
Turkey, Egypt, Germany, Italy, France and China, 
as well as here, for the production of fixed oil con- 
tained in the seed. This oil is said to make an excel- 
lent salad dressing and to be one of the best burning- 
oils known. The stalk, when treated as is flax, yields* 
a long, fine fibre, which is said to be used in China 
for the adulteration of silk. The Sunflower is believed 
by some to ward off the effects of malarial fevers, and 
in Caucasus malarial patients are wrapped in sheet9 
saturated with milk, and covered with the leaves of 
this plant. The Pah Ute Indians are said to be very 
fond of Sunflower seeds as food. The seeds are ped 
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