Variation In Russian Sunflowers

Categories: Grains and Forage Crops

In an acre of mammoth Russian sunflowers there seems to be three

varieties, some of the plants bear but one large flower; others bear a

flower at the top with many other smaller ones circling it, while others

have long stalks just above the leaf stems from the ground level all the

way up to the largest flower, which appears at the very top. Are all

these varieties true mammoth Russian sunflowers? What explanation is

th re for these variations? Will the seed from the variety carrying but

one natural head produce seed that will reproduce true to the parent?



Your sunflowers are probably only playing the pranks their grandfathers

enjoyed. If seed is gathered indiscriminately from all the heads which

appear in the crop, succeeding generations will keep reverting until

they return to the wild type, or something near it. If there is a clear

idea of what is the best type (one great head or several heads, placed

in a certain way) and seed is continually taken from such plants only

for planting, more and more plants will be of this kind until the type

becomes fixed and reversions will only rarely appear. No seed should be

kept for planting without selecting it from what you consider the best

type of plant; no field should be grown for commercial seed without

rogue-ing out the plants which show reversions or bad variations. If you

find sunflowers profitable as a crop in your locality, rigid selection

of seed should be practiced by all growers, after careful comparison of

views and a decision as to the best characters to select for.