SUN-FLOWER. Helianthus.

Natural Order Compositæ Oppositifolia. Corymbiferæ, Juss. A Genus of the Syngenesia Polygamia Frustranea Class.

Uplift, proud Sun-flower, to thy favourite orb
That disk whereon his brightness loves to dwell;
And as thou seem'st his radiance to absorb,
Proclaim thyself the garden's sentinel.

BARTON.

THIS Peruvian plant has been named Helianthus, from Haos, the sun, and avos, a flower, because its magnificent corolla bears a resemblance to the great luminary of day; and on this account it was used in the religious ceremonies of the ancient Peruvians who worshipped the god of day,—the virgins, who officiated in the Temple of the Sun, being crowned with the Helianthus, made of pure gold, and wearing them also on their breast, and carrying others in their hands, which, reflecting the rays of their deity by the brilliancy of the metal, formed an effect of the most imposing grandeur.

The Spaniards, who were amazed at this display of gold, were still more astonished when, in May, they saw the fields covered with these flowers,

which had been so closely imitated by the artificers of the New World, that the precious ore appeared less admirable than the workmanship in the eyes of these rapacious conquerors.

The Sun-flower is made the emblem of false riches, because gold of itself, however abundant, cannot render a person truly rich. It is related of Pytheus of Lydia, that, possessing valuable mines of gold, he entirely neglected the cultivation of his lands, which naturally became so unproductive as not to afford the common necessaries of life. His wife, who showed herself possessed of as much good sense as wit, at a banquet supper which Pytheus had ordered to be prepared, directed that all the dishes should be filled with gold in different shapes and states instead of viands. On the removal of the covers this ingenious woman exclaimed to the guests, "I set before you what we have in greatest abundance, for we cannot reap what we do not sow." This lesson made a proper impression on the mind of Pytheus, who acknowledged that Providence distributes her various riches like a tender mother, who has love for all her offspring, however numerous.

The gaudy Sun-flower naturally brings to mind the enormities which the treacherous Spaniards committed on the plains where this plant springs spontaneously, led on by the most ravenous appe

tite for plunder, and commanded by that blind bigotry and superstition which darkened the Old World in those days. Those infatuated pillagers attempted to enlighten the unfortunate heathens, who, in the simplicity of their hearts, poured out their adorations to the sun as the grandest object which their imagination could conceive. And their glaring and favourite flower will ever remain as a memento of the folly of those who attempt to inspire the ignorant with an idea of pure religion through the assistance of craft and cruelty.

Had the Spaniards returned to Europe loaded with plants and seeds, which would have been an excitement to industry, instead of gold and precious stones, which naturally lead kingdoms as well as individuals, to voluptuous idleness, the Spanish nation might at this period have been one of the most wealthy and happy kingdoms in Europe, instead of being impoverished by pride and depopulated by dissension.

The first mention we have of the annual Sunflower in this country is by Gerard, who notices it in the year 1596, under the name of "The Flower of the Sunne, or the Marigolde of Peru." He tells us, that it had grown to the height of fourteen feet in his garden at Holborn, producing flowers that measured sixteen inches over; and he adds, that in Spain this plant has been known to reach the height of twenty-four feet.

The French call this flower Soleil and Tournesol, from a vulgar error that the blossoms turn to the sun, whereas the flowers branch out on all sides of the plant, and those which face the east at the opening of day never turn to the west at the close of it, although our poet of the Seasons evidently was of the popular opinion that the Helianthus flower regularly turned to the sun.

Who can unpitying see the flowery race,

Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom resign
Before the parching beam? So fade the fair,
When fevers revel through their azure veins.
But one, the lofty follower of the sun,

Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves
Drooping all night, and, when he warm returns,
Points her enamour'd bosom to his ray.

Moore introduces the same allusion in his Irish Melodies:

As the Sun-flower turns to her god when he sets
The same look which she turn'd when he rose.

These poetical ideas seem borrowed from Ovid's transformation of Clytia :

But angry Phoebus hears, unmoved, her sighs,
And scornful from her loath'd embraces flies.

All day, all night, in tractless wilds alone

She pined, and taught the list'ning rocks her moan.
On the bare earth she lies, her bosom bare,

Loose her attire, dishevell'd is her hair.

Nine times the morn unbarr'd the gates of light,
As oft were spread the alternate shades of night,—
So long no sustenance the mourner knew,
Unless she drank her tears, or suck'd the dew:

She turn'd about, but rose not from the ground,
Turn'd to the sun still as he roll'd his round;
On his bright face hung her desiring eyes,
Till fix'd to earth she strove in vain to rise.

Her looks their paleness in a flower retain'd.

From hence it has been surmised that "the jealouse Clytia gave her yellowness and attitude to the Sunflower."

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The annual Sun-flower is unfit for the small terre, but when planted amongst shrubs or young trees, or on the borders of woods, its imitative suns shine to advantage. It is a flower we recommend to the notice of the young students in botany, since its great size will enable them to understand the class and order in which it is placed better than any other plant of the same class.

Linnæus adopted the term Syngenesia for this class of plants, from ovv, together, and yɛveois, a generating, meaning to generate together; and as it includes all the compound flowers, from the modest Daisy to the gay Dahlia, it forms one of the most interesting classes. It contains a natural order of plants perfectly distinct from any others which the vegetable creation presents to our view; consequently, their arrangement in the artificial system of the illustrious Swede is peculiar to themselves. This class could not be defined by the number of stamens and pistils, since all the numerous genera contain the same, which made it necessary to find