HelianthusAnnuus01

Note: These plants can be dangerous if improperly used. The author, and/or ernestartist.org assume no liability for experimentation of use.

Ernestartist.org assumes no liability for experimental use of medicinal plants, food plants or herbal remedies.

This large field sunflower is being grown for seed which is a tasty treat for man, bird and beast.
Are they called sunflowers because the flowerhead looks like the sun or because it follows the sun across the sky, looking east in the morning and ending the day facing the setting sun in the west?

The wild sunflower from which all the cultivars have been derived grows naturally in almost all of North America from central Canada to northern Mexico. It grows in prairies and dry, open areas, and is sometimes a weed in cultivated fields and pastures. Sunflowers are widely grown commercially for the oil that is extracted from the seeds. Russia is the world's largest producer, Argentina is second and the U.S. is third. Most production in North America is in the northern Great Plains, especially Minnesota, the Dakotas and Manitoba. A spectacular thing of beauty: a field of Sunflower as far as the eye can see in either directions, and to stand by to watch the sunflower and the heads of the flowers bending and adjusting with the sun.

There are so many different-looking cultivars of sunflower that it's hard to make generalizations about the whole species. Most sunflowers are tall (8-15'); most have rough-hairy oval to heart shaped leaves; most have large flowerheads (8-12" across); and most have yellow ray florets and purplish brown disk florets. The ray florets of sunflowers are sterile, and only the disk florets produce seeds. All the sunflower cultivars are fast-growing annuals, and many are rather rank coarse-textured plants. 'Autumn Beauty' is smaller, to 5', with flowerheads to 6" across and rays that can be mahogany, sulphur yellow, bronze or brownish red. 'Teddy Bear' is even smaller, to 3', with bright yellow chrysanthemum-like double flowerheads to 5" across. 'Russian Giant' gets over 12' tall and has bright yellow flowerheads a foot across; it's often grown for its edible seeds. 'Holiday' is branched with many 4-5" yellow flowerheads. 'Italian White' has 4" flowerheads with white rays and black disk florets. 'Velvet Queen' has 5" burgundy and maroon flowerheads. 'Sunspot' is only 2' tall but has full-sized 10" flowerheads. Sunflowers grown commercially for the oil that is pressed from the seeds include 'Peredovik', 'Progress' and 'Rostov'.

Dolores R. Piperno discusses the origins of agriculture and recent evidence for the cultivation of maize more than 7000 years ago in Mexico. Food surpluses made possible by agricultural economies have fueled major cultural developments during the past 10,000 years, culminating in the emergence of urban societies and advanced civilizations around the world. The current consensus is that agriculture arose independently in 6 to 8 regions of the world, including both hemispheres of the Americas, after termination of the last Ice Age 12,000 years ago.

Mexico was one of the primary centers of agriculture with domestication of maize, and new evidence suggesting that it was also a birthplace of another important American crop plant, the sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.).

Cultivated primarily for the seeds which yield the world's second most important source of edible oil. Sunflower oil is used for cooking, margarine, salad dressings, lubrication, soaps, and illumination. A semi-drying oil, it is used with linseed and other drying oils in paints and varnishes. Decorticated press-cake is used as a high protein food for livestock. Kernels eaten by humans raw, roasted and salted, or made into flour. Poultry and cage birds are fond of raw kernels. Flowers yield a yellow dye. Plants used for fodder, silage and green-manure crop. Hulls provide filler in livestock feeds and bedding.
Folk Medicine
Medicinally, seeds are diuretic, expectorant, and used for colds, coughs, throat, and lung ailments. According to Hartwell (1967–1971), the flowers and seeds are used in folk remedies for cancer in Venezuela, often incorporated in white wine. Reported to be anodyne, antiseptic, aphrodisiac, bactericidal, deobstruent, diuretic, emollient, expectorant, insecticidal, malaria preventative, sunflower is a folk remedy for aftosa, blindness, bronchiectasis, bronchitis, carbuncles, catarrh, cold, colic, cough, diarrhea, dysentery, dysuria, epistaxis, eyes, fever, flu, fractures, inflammations, laryngitis, lungs, malaria, menorrhagia, pleuritis, rheumatism, scorpion stings, snakebite, splenitis, urogenital ailments, whitlow, and wounds.

Chemistry
Per 100 g, the seed is reported to contain 560 calories, 4.8 g H2O, 24.0 g protein, 47.3 g fat, 19.4 g total carbohydrate, 3.8 g fiber, 4.0 g ash, 120 mg Ca, 837 mg P, 7.1 mg Fe, 30 mg Na, 920 mg K, 30 mg b-carotene equivalent, 1.96 mg thiamine, 0.23 mg riboflavin, 5.4 mg niacin, and 0 mg ascorbic acid. Seeds contain 25–35% of oil, but cultivars have been bred in Russia with up to 50% oil. Oil contains 44–72% linoleic acid, and 13–20% protein of high biological value and digestibility. Stems and husks are rich in potash. The forage (ZMB) contains 8.8% protein, 2.9% fat, 77.2% total carbohydrate, 30.3g fiber, and 11.1 g ash. Another analysis shows young shoots contain: 13.0% protein, 1.9% fat, 70.3% total carbohydrate, 20.4 g fiber, 14.8 g ash, 1,670 mg Ca, and 370 mg P/100 g. The flowers contain 12.7% protein, 13.7% fat, 64.3% total carbohydrate, 32.9 g fiber, 9.3 g ash, 630 mg Ca, and 80 mg P/100 g. Sunflower oil has a high concentration of linoleic acid, intermediate level of oleic acid, and very low levels of linolenic acid. The saturated acids, palmitic and stearic, rarely exceed 12%, and the minor acids, lauric, arachidic, behenic, lignoceric, eicosenoic, etc. rarely add up to as much as 2%. Tocopherol, or vitamin E, is an important vitamin and natural antioxidant. Sunflower oil is somewhat unique in that the alpha form predominates, with 608, 17, and 11 mg/kg of alpha, beta, and gamma, compared with 116, 34, and 737 respectively for soybean/oil.

Harvesting and Storage
Harvest when seeds in the center of each head are mature. The back of the head will turn greenish-yellow to yellow, and the bracts will turn brown. Cut with about a foot of stalk attached and hang the head in a warm, dry place. Cheesecloth or other netting tied around the head will prevent seeds from falling to the floor. If picked before completely dry, hang the head by the stalk in an airy, dry place, such as a well-ventilated attic. When thoroughly dry, gently rub the seeds from the head and store them in airtight containers, such as jars or well-tied bags.