Native Americans - Garden Plants – Sunflower

Name - the botanical name is Helianthus. The Greek word ‘helios’ means sun and ‘anthos’ means flower, so it is named after the sun which it resembles. The sunflower is the national flower of Russia and Peru, the flower representative of the city of Kitakyushu, Japan, and the state flower of Kansas.

Description - A huge flower head usually having a large dark centre and bright yellow petals. Most sunflowers are bright yellow with dark brown centres, but varieties are appearing now which have tan, orange, maroon or striped petals, and green-yellow centres. Low-pollen sunflowers have been developed in recent years which not only helps asthma sufferers, but extend the flower's life. The tallest sunflower ever recorded grew to over 25 feet (8m), although there are contests every year to try and beat this. When growing at home, use crop rotation such as white mould which rots the stalk and head. Sunflowers are also prone to downy mildew and rust and insects like moths are attracted to the sunflower head at flowering time - their larvae feed by tunnelling through the seeds but this can be prevented, assuming you want to harvest them for food or seed for next year, by covering the heads with plastic netting which should also deter birds. Sunflowers are ready to harvest when the back portion of the head turns brown. If you want to provide a wildlife treat though, leave off the netting and let the birds and insects have a late autumn feast – in fact leaving the heads on until spring can mean the difference between life and death for small garden birds who come to feed on the oil rich seeds through the winter months.

Origins - South and West of the USA. The sunflower is one of the top ten best selling cut flowers in the UK. They need a lot of water and may need staking in summer. The sunflower is grown for the seeds and oil it produces. Each mature flower yields 40% of its weight as oil. The flower was cultivated by North American Indians for many years as a food crop - the nutritious seeds were eaten, and the hulls of one particular variety gave a fabulous yellow dye. The Navajo made a tea with the leaves as a treatment for feverish pregnant women. A paste would be applied to warts to aid in their removal. The nutritional value is still the main reason for growing it in many parts of the world.

America Sunflower photograph by wili_hybrid, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

© blueworldgardener.co.uk