Location and Habitat

Water settles in the most of the ditches here in Macy. Therefore, that's where you can find most of the sunflowers. You can also find it in old fields, on disturbed oil and dry, open ground. It appears most in the prairies in the Midwest. It grows scattered in the east and its range extends to the west coast. There is some debate about where the sunflower was first domesticated. The earliest known examples of a fully domesticated sunflower were found at the Hayes site in Tennessee and date back to around 2300 B.C. There were also other remains found at the Olmec site of San Andrés dating some time before 2100 B.C. The Incas used the sunflower as an image of their sun god. Gold images of the flower, as well as seeds, were taken back to Europe early in the 16th century. Sunflower "whole seed" (fruit) are sold as a snack food after roasting within heated ovens with or without salt added. Sunflowers can be processed into a peanut butter alternative, Sunbutter, especially in China, Russia, the United States, the Middle East and Europe. It is also sold as food for birds and can be used directly in cooking and salads.

Uses

The White Mountain Apache used it as a snakebite remedy. They applied it to the snake bites. They also used it as analgesic, infusion of the flowers used for chest pain. Oil from the seed was used as paint for the face or body. Dried powdered seeds mixed into cakes. It was used as a spider medicine. The juice was applied to cuts. The sunflowers were used in liniment for the war dance. The seeds were ground into flour to make bread. Sunflower seeds we eat today come from the sunflower. Natural sunflower oil is produced from oil type sunflower seeds. Sunflower oil is light in taste and appearance. It supplies more Vitamin E than any other. The sunflower is often used as a symbol of green ideology, much as the red rose is a symbol of socialism or social democracy. The sunflower is also the symbol of the Vegan Society.

By Ashlea E. Aldrich