Sunflower (The)
. Clytie, a waternymph, was in love with Apollo, but meeting no return, she died and was changed into a sunflower, which still turns to the sun through its daily course.
“The sunflower turns on the god, when he sets,
The same look which she turned when he rose.”
T. Moore: (Believe me if all those endearing young charms).
“I will not have the mad Clytie,
Whose head is turned by the sun.”
⁂ What we call a sunflower is the Helianthus, so called, not because it follows the sun, but because it resembles a picture sun. A bed of these flowers will turn in every direction, regardless of the sun. The Turnsole is the Heliotrõpium, quite another order of plants.
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.