Sunflowers

Blooming Sunshine

Over 300 years ago sunflowers (Helianthus) were domesticated in North America by native American tribes. From the Greek words "heli" meaning sun, and "anthos" meaning flower, sunflowers were introduced in Europe by the Spanish explorers returning from this continent. There they remained an Old World curiosity until they reached Russia in 1860 where they again were cultivated as a crop for the high oil content found in their seeds. It wasn't until after the Second World War that the high oil varieties were reintroduced in the United States where they once again were raised as a crop for their seed.s oil and as a snack-food and bird food. Today there are about 50 species and many hybrids of this consummate American plant.

Sunflowers belong to the Aster or Sunflower Family of plants known as composites who can be recognized by their inflorescence (arrangement of flowers). Often mistaken as a single flower, composites consist of numerous tiny disk flowers (those located in the center) surrounded by longer ray flowers (mistakenly called petals) clustered together on the broadened top of the stem. Helianthus species are mostly tall, coarse plants whose flowers have yellow typically overlapping rays. More than 15 helianthus species of the 25 identified in the United States occur in Georgia.

COMMON SUNFLOWER (H. annuus) is an annual that reseeds itself. It is the native sunflower most widely cultivated for its oil rich seeds with plants reaching heights of up to 10 feet. Wild plants are seldom found to be over five f eet tall. It is easily identified by its stout, rough hairy stems eminating from a taproot, mostly alternate heart-shaped two to eight inch long leaves, yellow ray flowers numbering 20 or more, and reddish brown or yellow disk flowers from one to six inches across. Native Americans used ground sunflower seed for flour and oil from the seeds for cooking, mixing paints, and grooming their hair. Teas made from the leaves and flowers were taken for fevers, lung ailments, and insect bites. Early American settlers used fibers from sunflower stalks for making cloth and the leaves were dried and smoked like tobacco. Seeds were also ground and used as a coffee substitute. The yellow ray flowers provided a permanent dye. The common sunflower blooms from July to October and has naturalized throughout the United States in open places.

NARROWLEAF SUNFLOWER (H. angustifolius) is a fibrous-rooted perennial herb two to five feet tall, with opposite lower, alternate upper, linear leaves yellow ray flowers, and purple flattened disk.

Blooming from August to October throughout its range from New York to Indiana and Missouri to south Florida, this species is frequently seen in late summer along roadsides and in fallow fields and pastures throughout its range.

WOODLAND SUNFLOWER (H. divaricatus) has a smooth stem and opposite, virtually sessile (attached directly to the stem) leaves which taper gradually to a long tip and have abruptly rounded bases that do not clasp. The flowers have fewer than 15 one-inch long rays. This sunflower can be found in dry woods and along roadsides.

SMALL-HEADED SUNFLOWER (H. microcephalus) is another smooth stemmed sunflower. Its opposite, lanceolate three to six-inch leaves are rough to the touch on top and resinous below. This perennial herb has half-inch long yellow flowers and yellow disk flowers which radiate on long slender stalks. This rhizomatus plant can reach 7 feet tall along roadsides and woodland edges.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE (H. tuberosus) is a tall (up to 10 feet) hairy plant whose upper leaves are alternate and lower ones opposite. Having from 10 to 20 one to one and one-half-inch yellow ray flowers and a one-inch yellow disc, this sunflower's heads radiate in a typically flat-topped corymb. They occur in woodland borders and on waste ground. The name has no connection to the ancient city, but comes from the Italian word "girasole" which means "turn to the sun". Native Americans cultivated this plant for its tuberous, potatoe-like root marketed today as "sun chokes".

A common characteristic of all sunflowers is that they are heliotropic while in the bud stage. This means that as the sun courses from east to west during the day, the buds turn to face the sun. During the night they return to face the east ready to greet the next day's sunrise. Once in full bloom, the flower head remains stable until the seeds mature and the back of the flowerhead turns from green to yellow. Then the flowerhead bows to facilitate the dispersal of seeds. Easily grown on most soils, sunflowers are often seen towering above the corn on the garden.s edge or in fields and meadows above other plants. Over 26 pounds per capita, or eight billion pounds, of sunflower seed is produced annually in the United States, a quarter of a million acres planted in Kansas alone, where it is the state flower. Most sunflower varieties found in seed catalogs are cultivars of H. annuus and come in colors from yellow to red, single flowering to sprays of 15 to 20 flowers, 24 inches to 15 feet tall.

Be on the lookout for these and other fascinating wildlings in your rambles this summer. If you are planning any land disturbing activity you are urged to contact a Plant Rescue Team member for advice in preserving the native plant material that may exist on your property. Should you find that native plants stand in the way of construction activities, please call a member of the Plant Rescue Project, a project to identify, protect, and preserve our native plants, Jennifer Cordier, Chairperson, at 706-745-9317. This project is sponsored by the Preservation Committee of the Community Council of the Georgia Mountains Research and Education Center, Blairsville, Georgia.

Elaine K. Delcuze Plant Rescue Team

Union Sentinel
http://www.unionsentinel.com/news/2007/0628/home/053.html

Tags: sunflower varieties, types

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