Sunfish
the Lampris luna, called also opah, and kingfish. Also any individual of the genera Centrarchus, Bryttus, and Pomotis, from the fresh waters of this country. They are small fishes, about six inches long, and are not used for food. Also any individual of the genus Orthagoriscus. The common or broad sunfish (O. mola), though a native of warmer seas, is often taken in the summer months round the coasts of Northern Europe, and is usually captured when floating on the surface, as if basking in the sun. The largest specimen on record measured about eight feet long, and rather more in depth from the dorsal to the ventral fins. The oblong sunfish, called also oblong tetradon and truncated sunfish, has the height of body less than one-half its total length. It feeds on worms, crabs, and other marine animals, and does not float on the surface like the common sunfish.
SUNFLOWER (Helianthus), a genus of coarse, tall, herbaceous plants, with large, rough leaves and yellow flowers, belonging to Compositæ, and natives of America. H. annuus, an introduction from Peru, which has long been grown as a showy and large-flowered annual in gardens, has recently been found to possess high economic value. In Germany, Russia, India, and other countries it is now grown on a large scale. The seeds in a natural state are excellent food for poultry and pigs; roasted they are said to be a good substitute for coffee; crushed and pressed, they yield a limpid bland oil second in value only to olive oil, while the residuum can be used as an oil cake to fatten cattle; the stalks furnish a good fiber; the blossoms yield a brilliant lasting yellow dye, and the leaves serve as manure. The tubers of the sunflower artichoke (H. tuberosum) are saccharine, and serve culinary purposes. As fodder they increase the milk of cows. The foliage is also a good fodder.
SUNN (Crotalaria juncea), a large leguminous annual, rising under favorable circumstances to a height of 10 feet, in appearance resembling somewhat the allied Spanish broom. It is indigenous to Southern Asia, and also widely distributed through tropical Australia. In the former country sunn has been cultivated SUNNITES from remote times for its fiber, which is manufactured into rope, sackcloth, nets, twine, and paper. Sunn is also grown as a fodder plant for cattle. The subspecies, C. tenuifolia, furnishes Jubbulpore hemp; C. retusa yields a fiber for ropes and canvas, and C. Burhia for ropes.