Ukraine

National Flower

Close-up of the Sunflower

Field of Sunflowers

Sunflower (common name)
Helianthus annuus (scientific name)

Designation
Official

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Eudicots
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Helianthus
Species: H. annuus

The Flower

The sunflower is a composite bloom composed of many small disk and ray florets. The flower's petals are bright yellow ray florets, while the mauve-brown convex center consists of disk florets growing in a spiral pattern. Sunflowers are heliotropic, meaning they follow the sun when budding, facing east at sunrise and turning to face west by sunset. By morning, they've returned to their eastward position. Once the buds open, their heliotropism ceases. Sunflower heads are packed tightly with seeds (technically achenes). Each seed has a black-and-white striped or solid black husk about 1 cm (.5 in) long. Inside the husk is a small, oil-rich, edible kernel, an important food source for birds and some wild mammals. Sunflowers are annual plants, growing from seed each year. The stems generally are tall, relatively hirsute and straight, though some of the smaller varieties have branching stems. Pointed leaves grow along the stems in pairs, and each stem terminal forms a single bud.

Physical Details

Duration: Annual

Plant: Tall, rough hairy-stemmed herb.

Mature Height: 1.5-3.5 m (8–12 ft)

Flowering: May through October

Flowers: 7.5-15 cm (3-6 in) wide in wild plants, up to 30 cm (12 in) in cultivated varieties

Flower Color: Bright yellow to orange, occasionally maroon to rusty red

Leaves: 7.5-30 cm (3–12 in) long, heart shaped, dusty green leaves with serrated margins

Fruit / Seed Color: Gray seeds with black-gray hulls, usually striped with white

Habitat

Location: Well-drained, dry open areas with neutral to moderately alkaline soil.

Range: Native to North and South America, but commercially cultivated around the world, especially in central Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Africa, and Australia.

Trivia

Although native to the Americas, sunflowers are a ubiquitous sight in the Ukraine, where they're grown for seeds and oil.
The plants can extract unwanted compounds and elements from the soil, and were used to isolate and remove cesium-137, uranium and strontium-90 from local farmland after the disastrous accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Central Americans used the flowers to make yellow dye and the seeds to make blue-black dye.
Native Americans also employed the seeds as medicine. An infusion of the flower heads was a remedy for pulmonary problems. The flowers also were an ingredient in a poultice used on burns, while tea brewed from the leaves was used for lung problems and malaria.