• SUNFLOWER FACTS
  Sunflower-Scientific name, Helianthus. The name comes from two words, Helios meaning sun, and Anthos, meaning flower. The sunflower often follows the sun, and this characteristic is how the flower got its name.
  The sunflower is not one flower, but a cluster of more than 2000 tiny flowers growing together. A sunflower’s head can grow to be as big as 2 feet across and the plant itself can be as tall as 18 feet. The tallest sunflower grown on record was 25 feet tall in the Netherlands.

• PRARIE SUNFLOWERS
  State Flower of Kansas-1903
  In September the fields and roadsides of the Great Plains erupt in a blaze of yellow as the sunflowers and goldenrods (also members of the sunflower family) make their presence known to the local pollinating insects. While many sunflower species may begin blooming in July, they are not as noticeable then as later on when they have grown up and over the surrounding vegetation. There are eleven species of sunflower recorded from Kansas. Most of them are perennials. Only the common sunflower and H. petiolaris, the Prairie Sunflower, are annuals. Identification of sunflowers can be very complicated because they frequently hybridize and even within species there is a high degree of variability. With a little practice, however, the most common species can be readily recognized.

  The Common Sunflower has a long history of association with people. Nearly 3000 years ago it was domesticated for food production by the Native Americans. The seeds of the wild type of sunflower are only about 5 mm. long. It was only through careful selection for the largest seeds over hundreds of years that the cultivated sunflower was produced. Lewis and Clark made mention in their journals of its usage by the plains Indians. It was brought back to the Old World by the early European explorers and widely cultivated there also. Today it is a common alternative crop in the Great Plains and elsewhere for food and oil production. Next time you munch down on some sunflower seed, thank the many generations of Native Americans whose careful husbandry gave us this valuable food item.

  The wild cousins of those grown on the farm are still common, however, in fields, roadsides and disturbed ground throughout the Great Plains.

  The Common Sunflower is a typical member of the Asteraceae, one of the largest and most successful families of plants. Within the structure we think of as the “flower”, it actually has two different types of flowers-ray and disk flowers.

  The ray flowers have the big, straplike structures that we see around the edge of the “flower” while the disk flowers occupy the middle of it. Within the Asteraceae, many confusing combinations of the two are possible along with the total absence of one or the other in some species! Individual ray or disk flowers may be male, female or both and either fertile or infertile (don or don’t produce seeds). In sunflowers, the ray flowers are usually female and infertile. The disk flowers are both make and female and are fertile.

  If you look closely at the center of a sunflower you can see that the disk flowers grow in a mesmerizing pattern of two opposite spirals. This is most easily seen either before the disk flowers open up or after the seed has set and all the accessory flower parts have fallen off. This is one of the more interesting patterns in nature.

  The rough-hairy quality of the Common Sunflower is characteristic of many members of its family. These little bristles probably serve two functions: to discourage plant-eating animals and to conserve water in the plant by limiting evaporation.

  Members of the sunflower family are popular with butterflies because the wide flower head makes a good “landing platform” and the numerous individual flowers make for a high probability of finding nectar. Monarch butterflies are commonly seen nectaring on sunflower during their fall migration.

  Whether as a source of food for people and wildlife or an eye-catching splash of color on the landscape, the Common Sunflower is an important member of the prairie community.

  By Jim Mason

• HISTORY OF THE AMAZING SUNFLOWER
  The story of the sunflower is indeed amazing. The wild sunflower is native to North America but commercialization of the plant took place in Russia where it is the official National Flower. It was only recently that the sunflower plant returned to North America to become a cultivated crop. But is was the American Indian who first domesticated the plant into a single headed plant with a variety of seed colors including black, white, red, and black/white striped.

  Sunflower was a common crop among American Indian tribes throughout North America. Evidence suggests that the plant was cultivated by Indians in present-day Arizona and New Mexico about 3000 BC. Some archaeologists suggest that sunflower may have been domesticated before corn. Sunflower was used in many ways throughout the various Indian tribes. Seed was ground or pounded into flour for cakes, much or bread. Some tribes mixed the meal with other vegetables such as beans, squash, and corn. The seed was also cracked and eaten for a snack. There are references of squeezing the oil from the seed and using the oil in making bread.

  Non-food uses include purple dye for textiles, body painting and other decorations. Parts of the plant were used medicinally ranging from snakebite to other body ointments. The oil of the seed was used on the skin and hair. The dried stalk was used as a building material. The plan and the seeds were widely used in ceremonies.

  There have been some Indian Legends that describe sunflower as one in the same as the Sun God. Today when traveling through much of North American Heartland you cannot help but notice the beautiful fields of bright yellow sunflower. It is easy to imagine how such bright beauty could be attributed to God.

  This exotic North American plant was taken to Europe by Spanish explorers around 1500. The plant became widespread throughout present-day Western Europe mainly as an ornamental, but some medicinal uses were developed. By 1716, an English patent was granted for squeezing oil from sunflower seed.

  Sunflower became very popular as a cultivated plant in the 18th century. Most of the credit is given to Peter the Great. The plant was initially used as an ornamental, but by 1769 literature mentions sunflower cultivated for oil production. By 1830, the manufacture of sunflower oil was done on a commercial scale. The Russian Orthodox Church increased its popularity by forbidding most oil foods from being consumed during Lent. However, sunflower was not on the prohibited list and therefore gained in immediate popularity as a food.

  By the early 19th century, Russian farmers were growing over 2 million acres of sunflower. During that time, two specific types had been identified: oil-type for oil production and a large variety for direct human consumption. Government research programs were implemented. V. S. Pustovoit developed a very successful breeding program at Krasnodar. Oil contents and yields were increased significantly. Today, the world’s most prestigious sunflower scientific award is known as The Pustovoit Award.
  
  But nowhere in the world has a nation of consumers so fully embraced sunflower as Germany has for use in bread. Germany has long been known for its outstanding, hearty breads that are “A meal in themselves”. Bread making in Germany is not only an apt, but also a revered profession. Over the past few decades Germany has pioneered the use of sunflower kernel in bread making. They have fine-tuned this product to the point that nearly all bread in Germany includes sunflower. Consumers are unanimous in there support for sunflower bread. So popular has sunflower bread become that there hardly exists a bakery in Germany that does not use sunflower in bread. Nearly all the other Northern European countries have followed Germany’s lead in the use of sunflower in bread. In fact you can hardly travel anywhere in Northern Europe and not see German Type sunflower bread being served for breakfast and lunch.
  

  By the late 19th century, Russian sunflower seed found its way into the US. By 1880, seed companies were advertising the ‘Mammoth Russian’ sunflower seed in catalogs. This particular seed name was still being offered in the US in 1970, nearly 100 years later. A likely source of this seed movement to North America may have been Russioan immigrants. The first commercial use of the sunflower crop in the US was silage feef for poultry. In 1926, the Missouri Sunflower Growers’ Association participated in what is likely the first processing of sunflower seed into oil.

  Canada started the first official government sunflower breeding program in 1930. The basic plant breeding material utilized came from Mennonite (immigrants from Russia) gardens. Acreage spread because of oil demand. By 1946, Canadian farmers built a small crushing plant. Acreage spread into Minnesota and North Dakota. In 1964, the Government of Canada licensed the Russian cultivar called Peredovik. This seed produced high yields and high oil content. Acreage increased in the US with commercial interest in the production of sunflower oil. Sunflower was hybridized in the middle seventies providing additional yield and oil enhancement as well as disease resistance.

  US acreage escalated in the late 70’s to over 5 million because of strong European demand for sunflower oil. This European demand had been stimulated by Russian exports of sunflower oil in the previous decades. During this time, animal fats such as beef tallow for cooking were negatively impacted by cholesterol concern. However, the Russians could no longer supply the growing demand, and European companies looked to the fledgling US industry. Europeans imported sunflower seed that was then crushed in European mills. Western Europe continues to be a large consumer of sunflower oil today, but depends on its own production. US exports to Europe of sunflower oil or seed for crushing is quite small.

  The native North American sunflower plant has finally come back home after a very circuitous route. It is the Native Americans and the Russians who completed the early plant genetics and the North Americans who put the finishing touches on it in the form of hybridization. Those early ancestors would quickly recognize their contributions to today’s commercial sunflower if they were here; and their contribution to the popularity of the beautiful sunflower as the subject of many artists and its use as decoration in so many homes.

Much of this material was taken from: Albert A. Schneiter, ed. Sunflower Technology and Production, (The American Society of Agronomy No. 35, 1997) 1-19

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