Chrysanthemum

The name chrysanthemum means “golden flower” in Latin. Actually, the colors range from pale yellow to chestnut or from pink to crimson, and many varieties are white. The flower heads may be single, like daisies, or double. In size they range from tiny pompons to immense hothouse flowers. The plants are rather coarse and strongly scented. They are usually reproduced from cuttings.
Chrysanthemums were highly developed in China and Japan long before they were brought to Europe. Seeds from Korea were sent to Japan in the 4th century AD, and the flower has long been an emblem of the Japanese imperial house.
The genus Chrysanthemum belongs to the family Compositae. Most popular in gardens is the buttonlike pompon, a form of the florists' C. morifolium. Single-flowered types include the large white Shasta daisy and moon daisies (C. maximum), the small white feverfews (C. parthenium), and the gaudy tricolor (C. carinatum).
Popular florists' varieties of chrysanthemums are the pyrethrums, or painted daisies (C. coccineum), and the white or lemon-colored marguerites, or Paris daisies (C. frutescens). Feverfew and pyrethrum are used in insecticides.

Plum

The most widely distributed of the stone fruits, plums exist in great variety throughout much of Europe, Asia, and North America. They range in size from as small as a cherry to as large as a hen's egg and vary in color from purple or dark blue to red, yellow, or green. Their texture may be firm or soft and their flavor bitter or sweet.
Plums are divided into three groups—European, Japanese, and native North American—based on their geographic origins. European plums include the familiar blue fruits commonly found in European and American markets. They are widely grown in the New England states and on the Pacific coast. The tart damson plums, from which jams and jellies are made, belong to this group, as do the firm sweet varieties that are dried to make prune
The red and yellow Japanese plums are less hardy than the European varieties and so are commonly hybridized with the American species for cultivation in colder regions. They are grown in the United States in much the same region as the European plums, as well as somewhat farther south.
Native North American plums are not as sweet or highly prized as are the European and Japanese fruits. They are quite hardy, however, and produce resistant, high-quality hybrids.
Plums are eaten fresh or dried (as prunes), cooked, or baked in a variety of pastries. In Eastern Europe they are used to make slivovitz, a popular brandy.
Plum trees are generally small and deciduous. Some varieties called flowering plums are cultivated purely as ornamentals. Their small flowers may be white or pink to red. Plums belong to the genus Prunus.

Grapes
Fossilized leaves, seeds, and stems of grapes, some of them perhaps 40 million years old, have been found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The grape is native to the north temperate zone. There are about 60 species and more than 8,000 varieties of grape. The mature fruit of most species can be eaten fresh or dried. Dried grapes are known as raisins. All varieties, when crushed, can be made into some kind of wine or juice.
Grape growing is called viticulture. This word comes from the Latin words vitis, which means “vine,” and cultus, from the verb meaning “to cultivate.” In the United States viticulture began on the East coast. The early colonists planted grapevine cuttings, or sections of branches, which they brought from Europe, but these plants did not survive. Later, American growers experimented with wild grapes. Some had success with a species known as the fox grape, the scientific name of which is Vitis labrusca.
Today, most of the grapes grown east of the Rocky Mountains come from careful development of the fox grape. About three fourths of those produced are known as Concord grapes. This variety is a plump, blue-purple grape that is commonly used in the production of jelly, jam, and juice. Two other popular varieties developed from the fox grape are the green Niagara grape and the red Catawba grape.
Of the more than two dozen species of wild grapes known in the United States, only three, besides the fox grape, have been significant in the development of grape crops. From the species that is known as the summer grape (V. aestivalis) comes the small, sweet, red Delaware grape, which is second only to the Concord grape in flavor. From the winter grape species (V. vulpina) comes the hardy, dark Clinton grape. Its fruit is small and sour, but it is a fine cooking grape. The third major species is the muscadine grape (V. rotundifolia), which is grown in the cotton belt of the South. The best-known variety of this species is the yellow-green, thick-skinned Scuppernong grape, which has a plumlike taste.
Viticulturists have developed about 1,000 varieties of grape in the United States, and new variations are constantly being added. Grapes are differentiated by their skin colors, which range from pale green or yellow to red, purple, or black. Some varieties are even multicolored.
California's viticulture began in about 1780 when Spanish missionaries brought in cuttings of the species known as the Old World grape (V. vinifera). This grape thrived in California's mild winters and long, dry growing season. Many grape varieties have been developed from the Old World grape. They are grown extensively in California and Arizona, mostly for table use or for raisin and wine production. Today, California produces about 90 percent of the commercial grape crop in the United States.
Some of the most popular table grapes grown in California are the Thompson Seedless, the Emperor, and the Flame Tokay—the “fruit salad grape.” Raisins are usually produced from the Thompson seedless variety. Major California red wine grapes include the Zinfandel and the Pinot Noir, while popular white wine grapes are the Riesling and the French Colombard.
France, Spain, and Italy cultivate the most acreage of grapes, followed by Turkey and Georgia. Other principal grape-producing countries are Algeria, Argentina, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, and the United States. Australia, Bulgaria, Chile, Germany, Syria, and South Africa also produce a large part of the world's grapes. All of these countries have sizable winemaking industries.
Viticulture is nearly as old as civilization. Details about growing grapes and making wine have been discovered in Egyptian hieroglyphics that date from about 2400 BC. Grape seeds have been found with mummies in Egyptian tombs that are at least 3,000 years old. According to the Bible, Noah planted a vineyard. Wine was also a regular part of Greek life.
Grapes can grow in many different kinds of soil, but the soil must have a certain depth and must drain well. A common method of propagation is to plant cuttings taken from mature vines. Another method is known as layering. This is done by bending down a branch of a mature vine and forcing it to grow along a shallow trench in the ground. After shoots start to grow upward from buds on the branch, the trench is filled with soil. The shoots then develop roots. By fall or winter the shoots and their roots are ready to be cut from the parent branch. In the spring they can be planted as new grapevines.
Wine is made by allowing grape juice to ferment. In fermentation certain types of yeast act on the sugars in grape juice converting them to alcohol and carbon dioxide. All grapes contain sugar in the form of glucose and fructose, the amount of which depends on the particular variety. Grapes contain minerals such as calcium and phosphorus and are a source of vitamin A.

Cherry
The delicious fruit of the cherry tree may be eaten fresh or prepared in pies, other desserts, sauces, preserves, brandies, and liqueurs. A member of the rose family, the tree has pink and white blossoms that look very much like those of the wild rose.
Several wild species of cherries are native to America, but the fruit-bearing kinds were developed in Asia and had spread into Europe in prehistoric times. The fruits belong to two main groups—sweet and sour. The Duke cherry is a hybrid of these two.
Sweet cherries grow best in a mild climate, with no extreme cold, extreme heat, or summer rainfall at the time of ripening. Popular varieties include the Black Tartarian, Bing, Lambert, Napoleon, and Royal Anne. Sour cherries thrive in moderate, rather cool climates. Among the many varieties are the Richmond, Montmorency, Morello, and Chase. Most of the crop is canned or frozen.
Genuine maraschino cherries are made from the marasca, a bitter wild cherry. Most of the maraschinos sold are imitations made from Royal Anne cherries. The fruits are soaked in vats of sulfur dioxide for six weeks. Then they are pitted, cooked with sugar, and dyed a bright red.
Wild black cherry trees are common in the eastern half of the United States and Canada. They grow along roadsides, fence rows, margins of thickets, and in open woods. Birds and other animals eat the small dark fruit and help to spread the fruit by dropping the stones, or seeds, to the ground. Black cherry trees have rough, scaly black bark and smoother, reddish brown branches. The heartwood is a rich reddish color with silky luster, prized by cabinetmakers.
Pin, or fire, cherry occurs with aspen trees on burned-over areas of Canada and the northeastern United States. Chokecherry is a shrub or small tree found throughout much of North America.
Like peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, and almonds, cherries belong to the genus Prunus of the rose family. The scientific name of the sweet cherry is P. avium; sour cherry, P. cerasus; wild black cherry, P. serotina; pin, or fire, cherry, P. pennsylvanica; and chokecherry, P. virginiana.

Pluto

Pluto was named after the god of the underworld in Greek and Roman mythology. The planet is normally the outermost in the solar system. Its orbit, however, is much more elliptical, or oval, than those of the other planets, so its distance from the sun varies considerably. At its aphelion, or greatest distance from the sun, it is about 4.53 billion miles (7.30 billion kilometers) away from the sun. About every 248 years when Pluto reaches its perihelion, or nearest point to the sun, it is within some 2.76 billion miles (4.44 billion kilometers). Pluto is then closer to the sun than Neptune is for a 20-year period, as it was in 1979–99. The two planets do not collide, however. Pluto's orbit is tilted more than any other planet's; it is inclined 17° from the ecliptic, which is an imaginary plane passing through the Earth and the sun. As Pluto nears perihelion, it is always much above or below the plane of Neptune's orbit. In addition, Pluto revolves twice around the sun in the same time that Neptune revolves three times, in a configuration such that the planets never pass each other closely.
Because of its great distance from the Earth, Pluto appears relatively faint even when viewed with a telescope. Its brightness level varies regularly by about 12 percent in a period of 6.387 days. This variation indicates that some areas of the planet's surface reflect much more light than others and that it completes one rotation on its axis every 6.387 days. Pluto's axis is tipped about 122° relative to its orbital plane, so that, like Uranus, it lies nearly on its side. Both planets spin in retrograde motion, or in the direction opposite that of most of the other planets. An observer on Pluto would see the sun rise in the west and set in the east.
Pluto's unusual physical characteristics make it difficult to classify. It is neither one of the inner, rocky planets like Earth, nor one of the outer, gaseous planets like Jupiter. Some astronomers believe that Pluto should be considered a minor planet or the largest member of the Kuiper
belt, a region of small, icy cometlike bodies beyond Neptune. In size, density, and surface composition, Pluto resembles Triton, an icy moon of Neptune, more than it does the other planets. Pluto is the smallest planet in the solar system by far. Its diameter of approximately 1,485 miles (2,390 kilometers) is less than half that of the next-smallest planet, Mercury. Several moons, including the Earth's, are larger. The planet's density of about 110 pounds per cubic foot (1,750 kilograms per cubic meter) is similar to Triton's but less than a third of the Earth's.
Because of this density value, astronomers theorize that the planet may be composed of about 50–75 percent rock, with the remainder water ice. The bright regions of Pluto's icy surface consist largely of frozen nitrogen, with some solid methane, carbon monoxide, and ethane. Little is known about the darker portions of the surface, but it is thought that they might contain organic compounds. Observations made with infrared telescopes suggest strongly that Pluto has polar caps composed of methane ice. These ice caps sometimes appear to extend halfway to Pluto's equator.
Because it is so far from the sun, the planet receives only about 1/1600 the sunlight that the Earth does, and its surface is very cold. The average surface temperature is thought to be about −373° F (−225° C), with the brighter areas generally colder than the darker ones. The temperature varies considerably along with the planet's distance from the sun. Since one year on Pluto equals about 248 Earth years, its seasons are very long. The planet's elliptical orbit makes them uneven; winter, for example, probably lasts about 100 Earth years. Pluto has a thin atmosphere, likely composed of nitrogen with smaller amounts of methane and carbon monoxide. As the planet moves away from the sun, the atmosphere freezes and falls to the surface like snow.
Pluto's eccentric orbit and its physical similarities to icy satellites originally led some astronomers to believe that Pluto did not have the same origin as the other planets. One theory suggested that Pluto and its moon, Charon, may once have been satellites of Neptune but were pulled away from Neptune's gravitational field. Most scientists, however, no longer believe this model is physically plausible. Current models suggest that Pluto and its satellite instead formed as two independent bodies in the solar nebula. Pluto may have collided with a proto-Charon, with the present satellite developing from the resulting debris.

Tulip

The tulip is a member of the lily family. By crossbreeding, florists have produced thousands of varieties. There are the single and double early tulips. There are also the taller late types, which bloom in a wide variety of bright colors.
Tulips are divided into 15 classes. In each class there may be hundreds of varieties. Three of the most common classes are Darwin tulips, triumph tulips, and cottage tulips. All three were developed in The Netherlands by hybridizing original species.
The thick leaves of the Darwin tulip grow on a short stem. The flower stalk is usually much taller. The flowers are nearly rectangular near the base. The blunt tips of the petals are slightly curved in. There are many colors of Darwin tulips. They flower in May.
The triumph tulip resembles the Darwin type but is slightly taller and blossoms about two weeks earlier. This flower too comes in various colors.
Some of the most popular tulip varieties are in the cottage class. These bloom at about the same time as the Darwins and are about the same height. Their petals, however, are not curved in. Some cottage tulips have petals that are rounded at the tip.
The tulip is a native of Asia. It was taken to Europe by way of Turkey and the Balkans. In 1960, at the first horticultural “world's fair,” called the Floriade, Rotterdam celebrated the 400th anniversary of the introduction of the tulip into The Netherlands. By 1600 the country was a center of tulip production. Now millions of bulbs are cultivated each year for export. The tulip's popularity results from its early spring bloom and its great variety of color and form.

Sun flower

When the French explorer Samuel de Champlain visited the American Indians on the eastern shore of Lake Huron some 300 years ago, he found them cultivating the common sunflower. The parts of the plant furnished the Indians with a wide variety of useful products.
The sunflower is still considered a commercially valuable plant. The leaves are used as fodder, the flowers yield a yellow dye, and the seeds provide oil and food. The plant now is cultivated in Egypt, India, Ukraine, England, and other parts of Europe for its seeds: their sweet, yellow oil is considered to be as good as olive or almond oil for table use. The oil is also used in soap, paints, and stock and poultry feed. The seeds may be eaten dried or roasted or they may be ground to make bread or a coffeelike beverage.
The sunflower is a giant among flowers. The rough, hairy stem is 3 to 12 feet (1 to 4 meters) tall; the broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves are 3 to 12 inches (8 to 30 centimeters) long; and the flower heads may be 1 foot (0.3 meter) wide in some cultivated varieties. The flower head is flat, with a brown, yellow, or purple disk framed by numerous yellow ray florets.
The name of the sunflower comes from the way the plant turns its head from east to west to follow the sun. The plant may also be named for the resemblance of its golden-rayed head to the sun. The name sunflower is generally applied to members of the genus Helianthus. The scientific name of the common sunflower is H. annuus.