When the Spanish Conquistadores 
first entered Peru four centuries 
ago they found more than Inca gold 
—for this equatorial highland 
country abounded in plants new to 
Europeans, among them the brilli- 
ant Tithonia (Ty-tho'ni-a) eae 
explorer Pizarro found the Tith- 
onia to be Peru's national flower, 
with many images of it wrought with 
exquisite workmanship in pure vir- 
gin gold. It had religious signif- 
icance due to its resemblance to 
the sun, and priestesses of the 
temples wore the flowers on their 
bosoms. Pizarro seems to have taken 
the flower to Spain, where all 
trace of it was lost. 
Rediscovered in Mexico in the 
18th century, the flower was given 
its present name, from Tithonius, 
son of Laomedon the King of Troy. 
Tithonius was So handsome that Au- 
rora, Goddess of the Dawn, is Sup- 
posed to have fallen in love with 
him and persuaded the gods to make 
him immortal. Tithonia's ancient 
history was soon unearthed, and 
the flower acquired its best-known 
common name: Golden Flower of the 
Incas. 
This wild Tithonia (Speciosa) 
came North before the time of Pan- 
cho Villa, but northern frosts cut 
it down before it flowered, and its 
popularity was confined largely to 
the warm Southwest—much as the 
famous Heavenly Blue Morning Glory 
before Clarke's early strain made 
it one of the world's most popular 
flowers. By the early thirties 
some progress had been made toward 
an early strain of Tithonia, but 
plant habit was unsatisfactory. 
Some late strains had good flower 
color. Most important, however, 
was the discovery in Hawaii of 
plants which had adapted to a 
strange climate by producing a 
compact, bushy plant form which 
unfortunately had very insignif- 
icant flowers. Here the story of 
TORCH Tithonia really begins. 
All the elements of a prize-win- 
ning novelty existed: earliness, 
good flower color and dwarf plant 
habit, but they were in three dif- 
ferent packages. The very real ac- 
complishment of combining these 3 
into one distinctly new and supe- 
rior strain was begun at Bodger 
Seeds Ltd. breeding grounds in 
1939. It took eleven years to pro- 
duce the novelty which was top 
winner in All America Selections 
for 195l1—a Silver Medal Award and 
flower of the year. 
Like the Zinnia, which also came 
from Mexico, TORCH thrives on hot 
weather. The hotter it is, the more 
flame-red cutflowers you can pick 
for the house. Like the Zinnia, 
TORCH is so easy to grow you can 
be a "porch-hammock gardener". 
Cultural directions are just the 
same—put out seed or small plants 
when all frost is past; thin to 1% 
or 2 feet apart. Plant in full sun 
and water by deep irrigation (never 
sprinkle). Avoid high-nitrogen 
fertilizers or overwatering,or the 
plant will grow taller than its 
normal four feet. TORCH will bloom 
in July in warm climates, August 
elsewhere; and if flowers are kept 
picked will continue to bloom well 
into Autumn. 

