Coming in all shapes, colors, and sizes,
flowers are one of nature’s most beautiful little coincidences.
Often associated with love and occasions, flowers now represent many different things
in our lives.
Of all different blooms, sunflowers are rightly named for the way people gravitate towards them.
Meant to represent happiness with its bright yellow petals, sunflowers have become a well-loved
choice for celebrations, gardens and homes all around.
Despite being featured in many forms of art, there’s still plenty to know about sunflowers.
Watch on to find out.
Here are 30 sunflower facts that’ll shed light on its little wonders.
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1. Sunflowers are edible.
From its roots to the petals, sunflowers are completely safe to eat.
Though it may be an acquired taste, its bitter notes add a twist to flavors and boosts the
color in raw dishes like salads.
2. Sunflowers demonstrate a behavior called "heliotropism."
One of the sunflower’s most unique traits is a phenomenon called “heliotropism”.
Due to this behavior, sunflowers respond to the direction of the sun.
3. Sunflowers do not face each other when it's a cloudy day.
There’s a common myth that sunflowers face each other during cloudy days.
Although it may sound cute, it’s actually scientifically inaccurate.
Sunflowers only respond to the sun, and will stay put in its absence.
4. Mature sunflowers face east all day long.
Although the sunflower follows the sun’s direction all day long, there will be a time
where it will outgrow this habit.
Once the sunflower is fully grown, it will stop following the sun’s trail and simply
face east the whole day.
5. Sunflowers have been to outer space.
In the year 2012, a select number of sunflower seeds traveled to space along with astronaut
Don Pettit.
The astronaut from NASA brought the sunflowers to the International Space Station as a part
of his personal biology experiment.
6. Sunflowers can absorb toxins.
As hyperaccumulators, sunflowers can absorb high amounts of toxic materials from the soil,
storing it in their leaves and stems.
After a devastating tsunami destroyed reactors in Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant,
millions of sunflowers were planted as a stopgap measure.
7. Over 70 species of sunflowers exist.
Most sunflower species are native to Central and North America, save for 3 South American species.
8. Sunflowers are annual plants.
If you plant a sunflower seed in May, the sunflower would wilt around the middle of August.
In other words, sunflowers are annual plants, and they need to be replanted each year.
9. Germany has a yearly sunflower carnival.
Every year, locals and tourists in Cologne, Germany celebrate the Cologne Carnival.
During the event on May 14th, 2015, more than 700 members of the Cologne Carnival Society
wore sunflower costumes or outfits, making it the biggest gathering of people dressed
as sunflowers in history.
10. Sunflowers are daisies.
The sunflower belongs to the daisy family (Asteraceae) which has over 1,500 genera and
more than 20,000 species.
It is the biggest family of flowering plants.
Daisies also share this family with chrysanthemums, and lettuce.
11. Russia and Ukraine produce the most sunflower oil in the world.
With over 1.8 million tonnes produced each year, Russia leads the world in sunflower
oil production.
The sunflower agriculture in Russia takes up approximately 6.8 million hectares of land
in the growing regions of Rostov, Saratov, Krasnodar, Belgorod, and Voronezh.
12. Every year, Ukraine earns $3.7 billion from sunflower oil.
As the second-largest producer of sunflower oil in the world, Ukraine exports 1.7 million
tonnes of sunflower oil primarily to India and China.
13. It took 2 years to create sunflower spread.
In the year 2000, the Agricultural Research Service of the United States started a two-year
project to create a substitute for peanut butter, which will be using sunflower seeds
as its base.
In 2002, SunButter was born.
Now, the country also distributes energy bars and premade SunButter sandwiches.
How’s that for sunflower facts?
14. The famous painter Vincent van Gogh used sunflowers as his subject for two works.
The famous painter Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist who is among the
most influential figures in the history of Western art.
Throughout his career, he created two still life paintings of sunflowers.
The first one, made in Paris in 1887, depicts the flowers lying on the ground.
A year later, he painted a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase in Arles, France.
15. There are many hybrid sunflowers.
Hybrid sunflowers are one of the top varieties of the plant.
The cherry rose sunflower, for instance, is one of the most common hybrid varieties that
produce pollen-free blooms.
Its color is different from the regular sunflower – with a maroon center and light peach petal tips.
16. The sunflower blooms the most in the middle of summer.
In general, sunflowers start to bloom during the summer season, peaking mid-year.
However, late bloomers can follow as late as the fall season to catch up with them.
17. Young or immature sunflowers will follow the sun during cloudy days.
On some cloudy days, young or immature sunflowers would follow the sun’s trail even with the
sunshine entirely blocked by the clouds.
18. Perennial sunflowers can last over 2 years.
You may be used to flowers withering in days, but perennial sunflowers can live over two years.
This hybrid between wild perennial and domestic annual sunflowers generally resists more changes
in the weather.
19. Sunflower oil is an excellent source of vitamin D.
Some people don’t get enough sunlight that they need due to the nature of their work
or environment.
Sunflower oil is an excellent source of vitamin D, as well as vitamin A, E, phosphorus, magnesium,
selenium, copper, and iron.
As a result, taking sunflower oil as a food supplement can help with its deficiency.
20. Some people are afraid of sunflowers.
Although sunflowers represent positivity, some people have an irrational fear against it.
People with Helianthophobia can get agitated even at the mere thought of sunflowers.
21. The sunflower is the only one with “flower” in its name.
No other flower has the term "flower" in its name aside from the sunflower.
22. Halva is a delicious dessert that uses sunflowers.
Popular not just in Ukraine but also in other parts of the world, Halva is a delicious Ukranian
dessert that uses sunflowers as its base.
While others use sesame seeds instead of sunflower seeds, the sunflower-based ingredients are
arguably the best tasting of them all.
23. Sunflower seeds come in 3 types.
The most common sunflower seed variant are Linoleic seeds, followed by sunflower oil
seeds, and high oleic seeds.
Each type has different levels of fats.
24. The sunflower has medicinal uses.
Various parts of the sunflower can be used for home remedies.
Particularly, the tea from sunflower leaves has been used as a natural alternative for
treating high fevers.
Crushed sunflower leaves have also been used to treat sores, swellings, spider bites, and
snake bites.
Sunflower petal tea also claims to relieve malaria and lung ailments.
25. Sunflowers are made of thousands of tiny flowers.
It may not look like it, but sunflower heads are actually made of thousands of tiny, individual
flowers joined together at the base.
The yellow petals are individual undeveloped flowers.
26. Sunflowers have a wide array of colors.
The most common sunflower colors are bright yellow with brown centers.
However, other varieties come in shades of bright yellow, copper, red, brown, and orange.
27. Dwarf sunflowers can be grown outdoors and indoors.
Although sunflowers are generally sensitive to moisture and heat, dwarf sunflowers can
simply survive indoors.
28. Dwarf sunflowers need proper moisture and sunlight.
They may endure a dry environment, but dwarf sunflowers thrive even better in soil that
is lightly misted throughout the day and night.
Adequate moisture and at least six hours of direct sunlight a day is the best way to maintain them.
29. Sunflowers have many natural pests.
If you want to keep sunflowers, you’d have to watch out for beetles, cutworms, caterpillars,
moths, and midges.
30. The sunflower life cycle has 4 stages.
Overall, it takes one year for a sunflower to fully bloom.
The process involves 4 phases called germination, vegetative, reproductive, and blooming.
You may not pay much attention to flowers
in your everyday life, but there’s no denying how they can showcase nature’s beauty.
Flowers prove that anything can grow and bloom with enough time and proper care.
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