OF ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 
183 
This is the reason why this plant was called the sun-flower; a name before appropriated to the Helianthemum, or 
Sun-rose, which no doubt was the plant alluded to by Ovid, when he represented Clytia as pining herself to 
death for love of Apollo, and being changed by the pitying God into a flower, which always turned to the sun. 
The Italian Helianthemum is indeed of a pale yellow, admirably expressive of the complexion of a sickly girl 
pining herself away for love, which Ovid describes by saying that the flower retained Clytia’s wan paleness; 
an expression which becomes absurd when applied to a flower of such a glowing colour as the Peruvian Sun¬ 
flower. The Helianthemum also does turn to the sun, and only opens under the influence of its beams; while 
the Peruvian Sun-flower has generally its flowers turned in opposite directions. The common Sun-flower was 
cultivated by Gerard, before 1596 ; as he mentions it under the names of the Flower of the Sun, or the Great 
Marigold of Peru; and tells us that he had one which grew in his garden in Holborn, to the height of fourteen 
feet, and produced flowers which measured sixteen inches across. 
The culture of the Sunflower is as simple as possible, as the seeds only require to be sown in any soil or 
situation, or at almost any season, to vegetate ; and the stalk is too strong to require any training or tying up. 
It is, however, too large a flower for a small garden. The Sunflower has occasionally been cultivated both in 
Europe and America for commercial purposes; and Mr. Taylor, a London seedsman, has many acres covered 
with it, from which he has succeeded in making oil from the seeds, thread and paper from the fibre, and potash 
from the ashes of the refuse. 
OTHER ANNUAL KINDS OF HELIANTHUS. 
H. INDICUS, Lin. 
A dwarf species, a native of Egypt, not growing more than eighteen inches or two feet high ; introduced in 
1785. De Candolle considers this kind, and the II. humilis of Persoon, as varieties of the common sunflower. 
H. PETIOLARIS, Nutt. ; Swt. Brit. Flow. Gard. 
A very handsome species, a native of the sandy plains of the Arkansas; and found there by Professor 
Nuttall in 1821, though it does not appear to have been introduced into England till 1825. It is a very 
handsome species, greatly resembling the common perennial sunflower ; but the flowers are larger, and have a 
rich dark purple centre. Seeds may be procured at Charlvvood’s. 
H. LENTICULARIS, Doug. ; Bot. Reg. t. 1265. 
A very showy species, the flowers of which have an intense yellow ray, and dark reddish purple disk. It 
was discovered in the Arkansas territory of North America, by Douglas, and sent to England in 1833; but we 
do not know where seeds are now to be procured. 
H. OVATUS, Lelim. 
This species is frequently sold in the seed-shops for II. petiolaris, but it is not so handsome, having a much 
paler disk. It is a native of Mexico. 
H. MACROCARPUS, Dec. 
This is the kind usually sold by the French seedsmen, under the name of the hybrid long-seeded sunflower. 
The florets of the ray are large, and of a pale lemon colour, and those of the disk are yellow. 
H. PATENS, Lehm. 
The stem is strong and erect; and the branches widely spreading. The flowers have a rich purple disk, and 
a bright yellow ray. The plant is a native of the southern provinces of North America. 
