Giant Sunflower With Buds
by Kay Novy
Title
Giant Sunflower With Buds
Artist
Kay Novy
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence (flowering head), and its name is derived from the flower's shape and image, which is often used to depict the sun. The plant has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads of flowers. The heads consist of many individual flowers which mature into seeds, often in the hundreds, on a receptacle base. From the Americas, sunflower seeds were brought to Europe in the 16th century, where, along with sunflower oil, they became a widespread cooking ingredient. Leaves of the sunflower can be used as cattle feed, while the stems contain a fibre which may be used in paper production.
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European explorers saw their first sunflower in South America. The Incas grew a tall, single stemmed sunflower from years of selecting and breeding plants from a smaller, native wild flower. Spanish botanists were among the first to receive batches of seeds brought back by the explorers, and by 1580 the sunflower was a common sight in Spanish villages. From Spain, the sunflower spread to Italy, Egypt, India, China, and Russia where it was first grown commercially as an important oilseed crop.
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The American Indians grew the sunflower as a food crop and ate the calcium-rich seeds As with most plants cultivated by indigenous people who lived close to the earth, the sunflower had more than one use. A yellow dye was extracted from the petals, oil was extracted and used for ceremonial body painting, the stalks produced an exceptionally light fibre - still said to be one of the lightest fibres known - and the blooming times of the plant indicated dates in the hunting calendar.
Uploaded
July 23rd, 2012
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