SWEET SULTAN 



Flower-heads. — Solitary on long, slender peduncles; florets all tubular, 

 the outer row becoming large, funnel-shaped with finely fringed margins; 

 the disk-florets small with long styles that usually take the color of the 

 outer florets; spread of flower two to three inches. 

 ■ Involucre. — Globose-ovate; scales large, flat, appressed, dark-green 

 with pale scarious margins; two upper rows wholly scarious. 



Pappus. — Many white bristles. 



Akenes. — Oblong, slightly compressed. 



Sweet Sultan is a royal flower, and properly possesses a royal 

 name. Blood brother to the Bachelor's Button, in it the family 

 characteristics are enlarged, refined, and glorified. Many flowers 

 coarsen as they increase in 

 size, but the larger the Sultan 

 the finer it is. The outer 

 trumpets become veritable 

 cornucopias, an inch and a 

 half long, half an inch across, 

 with edges deeply and deli- 

 cately fringed. The inner 

 florets enlarge also and send 

 out such a multitude of di- 

 vided styles, each tipped with 

 the hue of the marginal flow- 

 ers, that the centre is a glow 

 of exquisite color, over the 

 soft mass of the disk; the re- 

 sult is enchanting. This 

 flower-head of exquisite 

 beauty is held at the summit 

 of a hard, roimd ball of an involucre, made up of large, green 

 scales whose pale margins serve to emphasize their form. This 

 involucre holds tight, and well it may, for within is the hope of 

 the future— the seeds of the plant. The color range of the Sul- 

 tan group runs through rose and lavender and purple and yellow 

 to white. The fragrance of orris-root lingers about the flowers, 

 giving them an added touch of old-time elegance. 



503 



Sweet Sultan. Centaur^ Moschata 



