Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-09-15
THE SUNFLOWER.
History and Literature of This Nsa.
Of Plants.
tFrom Harpe-'s weekly.l

Of Plants.
From Harpe-'s Weekly.l
No flower for long time has become
so popular and so personal as the sun
flower. It has climbed into our favor,
and taken possession of our homes, orr
gardens and our dress, and IS everywhere
the sentinel of art and fashion--and of
right, for it is not only decorative and
useful flower, but bears a good religious
character, being us Christian flower
dedicated to st. Bartholomew, st. Louis
(King), and st. Antradis, and rs Pa
gan emblem, the sacred flower of the
ancient Peruvians, who were worshipers
of the sun
Its resemblance to the god of day and
its supposed homage to the rising sun
made 1t their emblem OF faith, and on
this account ii was greatly used in their
religious ceremonies, and tue virgins who
olficiated in the Temple of the Sun were
crowned with surfowers made of pure
gold, and carried them in their hand,
and fastened their robes with them.
In Persia, and some other lands of the
East, the sunfioWer is the emblem of
constancy in love, and there are many
poetical illusions Ill Eastern literature
TO the flower that always turns its face
toward the sun.
The first mention we have OF it Id En-
gland is from Gerard, in 1896, when he
tells us that in his garden he has one
that has grown to the height of fourteen
feet, which produces flowers measuring
sixteen inches over. In Spain and Mex
leo they grow to the height of twenty
feet, some Of the flowers measuring four
feet in diameter, and a single flower pro-
ducing 1882 seeds.
Alma Tadema has illustrated this fact
In his beautiful picture OF Sunfowers,"
III which q maiden is reaching up to the
flowers, which are still far above her.
The whole purpose of the picture is evil
IDENTIFY intended to make the spectator
feel the great height OF the plant.
Browning calls the flower ga foolish
mimic SUM-" Darwin gives it better
character, for he says it
Climbs the upland lawn,
And bows IL homage to the rising dawn.
Moore uses ii as comparison Of con-
stancy, for he says:
AS the sunfower turns TO her god when ne sets
The same look which she tarned when he rose.
But Blake gives it sad, longing char
acter, and IN two short, exquisite verses
makes you feel quite differently to the
great yellow flower:
All Sunhower, weary of time
Who coUntes5 the steps OF the sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden primo
Where the travellers journey IS done.
Where the youth piueG away with desire,
And the Dale virgin 6k-oudel in snow.
Arise from their graves and aspire
Where my Sunfower wishes to go.
Botanical authorities say that there are
nearly fifty species. Among those which
are best known are the tall sunfower of
Peru and Mexico, the perennial, native
Of Virginia, and the dwarf sunfcwer,
brought, as late as 1873, from Egypt.
The seeds, when peeled, taste like
sweet almond. They make an excellent
bread of them in Portugal, and during
the late war in the Southern States they
were substituted for coffee in many a
frontier cabin. They are d good food
for poultry, and the Oil pressed from
them is frequently used In place of olive
Oil for salads; it can also be burned in
the lamp, and is splendid for soap max
ing.
The stems and flowers when burned
produce a good potash, and many a
housewife in Texas has superintended
the burning of sunfowers to obtain the
potash for her weeks baking with as
much care as she did the baking itself.
In Texas the sunfower pulled at sun
down with a wish is sure to bring the
wish true before the next sunset $50 the
lid Ox-N
have garden without at least one of
these mimic suns" in ii. To dream of
them signifies that you VIII have your
pride wounded; and q negro, if ne has
this dream, will never rest until he has
pulled q sunfower TO counteract the
omen. And in some parts of the South
3 negro viii not let you bring INTO the
house sunfower that las been pulled
before it Is perfect, or one that is in any
way broken.