SPECIFIC AND VARIETAL CHARACTERS IN AN- 

 NUAL SUNFLOWERS 



PROFESSOR T. D. A. COCKER ELL 

 University of Colorado 



The group of Helianthus annuus, the typical, annual 

 sunflowers of North America, is not a large one. The 

 annual habit seems to have been acquired independently 

 by several different Helianthine stocks, so that H. bolan- 

 deri Gray, H. exilis Gray, H. fioridanus Gray and H. 

 tephrodes Gray are to be excluded from the H. annuus 

 group. The subgenus Helianthus s. str., or Euhelianthus, 

 contains the following: 



1. H. annuus Linn. Based on the large cultivated form 

 (H. macrocarpus D. C), Dr. A. H. Church of Oxford has 

 investigated the history of this plant, and I take the 

 liberty of quoting from a letter he wrote on March 4, 

 1915:" 



The published accounts of the punt sunflower in Europe in the six- 

 teenth century are so precise that it is interesting' to remark that this is 

 in fact the oldest mutation known, which is stiU with us, quite unaffected, 

 though still never unite a pure strain, owing to insect pollination. The 



(1567), tells us it grew in the Botanic Garden at Madrid, 21 feet. At 

 the Padua Garden, indoors, in a viridariura or orangery, 40 feet! The 

 usual height was 20 ft. The first English specimens, grown in London 

 by Gerard, were 14 ft.; and 15 ft. is the local record here. The giant 

 form is known by carrying one head, and having no trace of axillary 



viduals. . . . The next point is, where did it come from? From Peru, 

 say the Herbals. hut all Spanish things from America came via Peru, 

 because this was the last port of call. Hence Mexico is regarded as the 



and Hernande: a tier him. call it the Cliimahuak d,l I'rru; " acak " I 



tivated crop. The inference is that the plant as we know it was evolved 

 by ages of selection in Peru, by guano fed cultivation, possibly long be- 

 fore Inea rule, the plant having been taken by all migrating tribes from 

 the Mexican district. . . . Regarded as a product of Peruvian agricul- 

 ture the sunflower is curiously parallel with the maize. ... It was the 



