Wild Sunflower Seeds | Helianthus annuus

It is believed that the first helianthus seed raised in Europe was imported from Peru and Mexico and grown in 1562 in the Royal Gardens in Madrid. Towards the end of the sixteenth century helianthus are thought to have been cultivated in Italy. At that time helianthus were also known by J. P. de Tournefort as Chrysanthemum peruvianum and Corona Solis. After Cortuso's observations stated that helianthus flowers turned during the day to follow the course of the sun—a supposed characteristic but not correct—the name Helian thus was definitely confirmed by Linnaeus. Helian thus is taken from the Greek, hellos and anthos.

The helianthus is not one of those plants regularly used in folk medicine, although the dried flowers have been successfully used in some treatments. Various species of helianthus have been, and still are, of considerable economic value in agriculture, especially in Eastern Europe and in Russia. The species of major importance in this respect is Helianthus annuus. Rembert Dodoens writes that the stalks, while young and tender and still free from hairs, were roasted on a grill and served with salt and oil; this may, however, be inaccurate, and perhaps should refer to the unopened flower buds. Helianthus annuus is valuable for several reasons, as can be appreciated from the following summary of uses. The plants produce a good quantity of seed which, when roasted and ground, can serve for the preparation of a beverage similar to coffee. The seeds are also valued for their oil, an extraction of which is used in paint. The oil is also palatable and is often used in cooking. They are also commonly used as bird food, parrots being especially fond of them. If ground, the seeds provide an excellent flour which makes a most delicious pastry; if mixed with wheat flour it will render bread more nutritious and more digestible. Bees find an abundance of excellent nectar in sunflowers, and a bitter liqueur can be made from an infusion of the flower petals in alcohol—this has been used in Europe since ancient times against fevers. The leaves of the plant provide excellent forage. If grown and treated like hemp, the plant tissues render an excellent fibre which the Chinese mix with silk. An excellent paper can be made from the stems, and a yellow dye can be prepared from the petals. Finally, the dried stems will provide a good fuel for burning. Also, many people enjoy the seeds roasted and salted. In many places the seeds are sold in automatic vending machines.

Some of the less-known and less-cultivated species of helianthus have been, and in many cases still are, of great economic importance to certain primitive tribes. The tubers of Helianthus tuberosus can be eaten raw with pepper and salt, or boiled in water, or even roasted in hot ashes. When boiled in water, like artichokes, these were known as Sunflower Artichokes. In Italian, the word for sunflower is girasole (turn with the sun); this was subsequently transliterated in English into "Jerusalem", hence Jerusalem Artichoke (the phonetic similarity between the two words girasole and Jerusalem is obvious). A type of flour is also prepared from Helianthus tuberosus, and this is used in the preparation of dietetic and health foods. Some American Indian tribes ate the tubers of Helianthus maximilianii, while others used the seeds of Helianthus giganteus to prepare a flour that was mixed with maize flour for making bread.

Cultivation. Helianthus are very robust, vigorous, and easily cultivated plants. They can be grown in practically any type of soil, and frequently escape from gardens to naturalize themselves in the most unlikely places. They are heavy drinkers, and can consume vast quantities of water; so much so that at one time they were considered to be of value for reclaiming very wet and boggy land. They are also gross feeders, a point to bear in mind if really first-class plants are to be grown. Before planting young plants in their flowering positions the soil should have been thoroughly fertilized with well-decomposed manure. Later, at the flowering season, applications of liquid manure will also be beneficial every 15-20 days.

Seed can be sown in March–April—according to climate—in seed beds, and the seedlings planted out in May–June. For the sake of convenience, seed can also be sown in fibre pots, one seed per pot; no time should be lost in planting them out, as the seedlings are rapid and vigorous growers and they resent any check to their initial development. All the annual helianthus are best propagated from seed; while the propagation of perennial species and their varieties is best done by means of division in spring or autumn, or with soft cuttings in spring. If helianthus flowers are to be cut, the blooms should not be picked too early in the morning, and only when the petals are completely expanded.

Although not ideal subjects for such a purpose, certain helianthus can successfully and effectively be cultivated on a sunny terrace. However, only the more dwarf forms should be used in this case, such as the double-flowered Helian thus annuus var. Gelber Knirps or Helianthus cucumerifolius. These will enjoy a hot sunny position and should be grown in containers with a diameter of at least, and preferably in barrels or tubs. The plants will certainly require an abundance of water, but the soil should not be sodden, as the base of the stems can easily rot. Another word of warning: do not be tempted to grow helianthus in the vicinity of any plants of the climbing ipomoea or convolvulus (Morning Glory), as helianthus are typical examples of those burly but chicken-hearted, non-bellicose simpletons who allow themselves to be taken advantage of, and the helianthus will be robbed of light and food by the ipomoeas.

Helianthus angustifolius L.

Native to the United States, from New York to Florida and west to Texas, and always found in wet, boggy, or swamp-like positions. A herbaceous perennial up, all parts of which are hairy. Foliage lanceolate, up . long. Flowers terminal, solitary, in diameter, but occasionally grouped in threes. The petals (ligules) are yellow and the disc florets purple.

Helianthus annuus L

Native to the United States, from Minnesota to Washington and California. The typical giant-flowered annual sunflower with blooms up to 18 ins, in diameter. There are, however, smaller-flowered much- branched dwarf forms sometimes known as Cut-and-Come-Again sunflowers. A vigorous species with a mass of short-fibrous roots which seem out of proportion to the size of the plant but which make transplanting an easy matter, even in the case of large mature specimens. For this same reason, however, it is generally advisable to provide the plants with supports, especially in windy localities. The stems are large, robust, not much branched in the upper parts, hairy, and filled with a fibrous pith similar to that of the elderberry (Sambucus). Leaves alternate, stalked, heart-shaped or elongated-oval, irregularly on both surfaces. Flowers very large, up to 18 ins, in diameter; ligules (petals) numerous, orange- yellow, oval-lanceolate, rather widely spaced and radiating round the velvet-black central disc. This disc bears numerous small pale- yellow tubular-shaped florets, and while the flower is young they dominate the central disc with their colour. Properly grown, fully developed specimens assume enormous proportions for a plant whose growth is purely annual. are often recorded. The main terminal flower is solitary; but relatively insignificant smaller blooms are borne in the leaf axils later in the season.

In the summer of 1910, Mrs. T. D. A. Cockerell found an unusual sunflower growing by a roadside near Boulder, Colorado. Instead of being pure golden-yellow, the flower was suffused with a beautiful chestnut-red tint. Mrs. Cockerell named it var. coronatus because the reddish halo surrounding the black disc reminded her of the corona visible during an eclipse of the sun. Not being able to fertilize the flower with its own pollen she crossed it with flowers of Helianthus annuus and with several garden varieties. As a result of successive crosses she was able to obtain several new varieties: one bicoloured, var. bicolor, with reddish petals tipped yellow at the points; one with a red circle, var. zonatus ; and another with all the petals completely chestnut-red, var. ruberrimus. In 1914 Mrs. Cockerell even succeeded in obtaining a variety with practically black petals; while by crossing the var. ruberrimus with the var. primulinus, which has primrose- yellow flowers, she obtained a wine-red form, var. vinosus. She also created several more: var. vinosissimus, with the petals completely dark wine-red, and var. niger, with black petals suffused red at the tips. Helianthus annuus is a plant that lends itself to selection and to hybridization, although at the same time selected forms rapidly degenerate.