The stately form of the sunflower is a common sight in the south, where whole fields are often covered with the plants. Their season of blossoming is supposed to be in the autumn, but we have seen them blooming just as gayly in March. This wild sunflower of the plains is believed to be the original parent of the large sunflower of our gardens.
Its seeds are used by the Indians as food and in the preparation of hair-oil.
Popular tradition makes this blossom a worshiper of the sun, and it is believed to follow him with admiring glances.
"The lofty follower of the sun, Sad when he sets, shuts up her hollow leaves, Drooping all night, and when he warm returns, Points her enamored bosom to his ray."
Another species—H. Californicus, DC.—found from San Francisco Bay southward, along streams, has something the same habit as the above, but may be known from it by its slender, smooth stems, leafy to the top, the long, sprawling, awl-shaped bracts of its involucre, and its more delicate flowers, about two and a half inches across. The disk-corollas are slightly pubescent below. This species has a rather strong balsamic odor.
PINE-DROPS.
Pterospora andromedea, Nutt. Heath Family.
Stems.—One to three feet high. Bracts.—Crowded at base; scattered above. Calyx.—Five-parted. Corolla.—Three lines long; yellowish. Stamens.—Ten. Anthers tailed; opening lengthwise. Ovary.—Five-celled. Style short. Stigma five-lobed. Hab.—Throughout California, and across the continent.
In our walks in the mountains, we occasionally encounter the flesh-colored wands of this curious plant. The colorless leaves are reduced to mere bracts, and the stems are densely clothed above with the little yellowish waxen bells. The whole plant is very viscid and disagreeable to handle.
Though rare, it is found all across the continent. In the East it grows only under pine-trees, upon whose roots it is supposed to be parasitic, while in California it is said to be found under both oaks and pines.