PERENNIAL SUNFLOWERS. 



29 



squarrose, lanceolate-subulate, or gradually attenuate from a 

 narrow base to a slender point, and includes divaricatus, or- 

 gyalis, Maximiliani, grosse-serrahts, giganteus, tuberosus, multi- 

 florus, and angustifolius, and I venture to hope that this small 

 arrangement will facilitate the identification of the species and 

 varieties at present in collections in this country. 



In dealing with the species I have found H. rigidus by far the 

 most troublesome, and in its relation to H. Icetiflorus a very im- 

 portant alteration might be made. I have found H. rigidus the 

 most variable of all the species in time of flowering, in height, 

 and in habit, but there is a similarity in all the forms that leaves 

 no doubt whatever as to which species they belong. With a view 

 to fixing as well as distinguishing these forms, I have drawn up 

 short descriptions of no less than six of them, all differing suffi- 

 ciently from each other in time of flowering, in size and colour 

 of flowers, and in height, to warrant varietal distinction. The 

 first I have called cestivus ; it is the earliest to flower, and was 

 first sent out by Messrs. Ware, of Tottenham, under the name 

 of H. japonicus — a very misleading name, as no Sunflowers, so 

 far as I know, have ever been found in Japan. The second, 

 which flowers a fortnight later, and is the pubescens of Barr, 

 may be taken as the type ; it differs chiefly by its more acute, 

 somewhat spreading in vomeral bracts and purplish -yellow 

 disc. Number three I have called H. rigidus var. grandiflorus. 

 It was sent to Chiswick as " green-stemmed," doronicus, 'and 

 strumosus, all of which names are wrong — as a matter of fact it 

 has purplish stems ; doronicus is evidently an error for doronicoides 

 and strumosus is an altogether different species. The fourth is' 

 rigidus v r ar. elegans ; the fifth rigidus var. latifolius ; and . the 

 ■sixth rigidus var. scmi-plenus, which came to Chiswick under the 

 name of H. angustifolius. This latter is the plant about which so 

 much has been written lately, and its origin, so far as we can trace 

 it, is as follows. The plant seems to have originated at Kew ; at 

 ■any rate so says Mr. William Thompson, of Ipswich, and it appears 

 that Mr. Thompson first received it from Kew in Mr. Sutherland's 

 time under the name of H. doronicoides. Dr. Gray is said to have 

 named it H. Icetiflorus, though I am pretty certain not without 

 a query. It was afterwards sent to Professor Sereno Watson, who 

 said it was nearest to II. Icetiflorus. All this is perfectly reason- 

 able and straightforward, but there is now growing at Kew a plant 



