Helianthus annuus L.

The Useful Plants of Boyacá project

Ecology

Alt. 2630 - 2630 m.

Distribution

Cultivated in Colombia.

Morphology General Habit

Herb.

Bernal, R., G. Galeano, A. Rodríguez, H. Sarmiento y M. Gutiérrez. 2017. Nombres Comunes de las Plantas de Colombia. http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/nombrescomunes/

Vernacular

girasol, maravilla, mirasol

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution

Cultivada en Colombia; Alt. 2630 - 2630 m.; Andes.

Morphology General Habit

Hierba

Ghazanfar, S. A., Edmondson, J. R. & Hind, D. J. N. (Eds). (2019). Flora of Iraq, Volume 6: Compositae.Kew Publishing

Morphology General Habit

Annual herb, simple or branched, (0.3–)0.7–3 m; stem stout, scabrid

Morphology Leaves

Lower leaves broadly cordate-ovate to ovate-elliptic, scabrid on both surfaces, dentate-serrate, long-petiolate, lamina 10–40 × 8–35 cm, 3-veined at base Leaves opposite below, alternate above

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum

Capitula mostly solitary, often very large, nodding; phyllaries long-ciliate and dorsally pubescent, lanceolate-oblong to broadly ovate; ray limbs 3–6 mm, yellow; disc (2–)5–10+ cm broad, disc floret lobes brownish-purple

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Achenes large, 8–15 × 4–9 mm, whitish or greyish with dark lines, obovate to ± round, compressed.

Distribution

Cultivated at an Agricultural Research Station (Iraq). A native of N America grown as a crop and sometimes spontaneous in other parts of the world.

Vernacular

Sunflower (Eng.), Girasole (It.). Guest gives the Ar. names WARD ASH SHAMS, ‘AIN ASH SHAMS, ‘ABAD ASH SHAMS, SHAMS WA QAMAR; QŪNAH BĀQĀN (Turk.) and GŪLAH BARRŪZHAH (Kurd.) are also given.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/19073408/47600755

Conservation

LC - least concern

Kew Species Profiles

General Description

Native to North America, Helianthus annuus, better known as sunflower, is both beautiful and useful. It is widely cultivated for its edible seeds and oil and, to a lesser extent, as an ornamental. Nutritionally, the seeds contain up to 46% of polyunsaturated oil with a high percentage of linoleic acid and up to 20% protein of a high biological value. Sunflower belongs in the daisy family, Compositae (Asteraceae), and is characterised by having a flower head (capitulum) with outer yellow ray florets, which serve to attract pollinators, and inner brownish disc florets which are fertile and are arranged in spiral whorls from the centre of the head. Sunflower is pollinated by bees and some farmers place bee colonies in sunflower fields which produce honey as a by-product.

It is a common misconception that sunflower heads are heliotropic and track the sun across the sky. The alignment of sunflowers in a field is due to heliotropism at an earlier stage of their development, while the flower heads are still in bud. The buds follow the sun until the end of the bud stage when they finally position themselves facing east. This behaviour makes blooming sunflowers growing in the open like living compasses with north to the left, west behind and south to the right. 

Species Profile

Geography and distribution

Sunflower was first domesticated from its wild ancestor more than 5,000 years ago in the south-western part of the USA and, within a short period of time, became widespread throughout the Americas. Its value as an ornamental plant and use as a source of food and oil attracted the attention of European explorers who brought the crop to Europe in the 16th century.

By the 19th century sunflower was being cultivated on a wide scale in Russia, the Ukraine and Caucasus regions for the manufacture of edible vegetable oil. The crop is still important in that part of the world today along with the US and Argentina. Other key producers are India, China, Turkey, the European Union (eg France, Spain) and South Africa. Occasionally, sunflower escapes cultivation and becomes naturalized.

Habitat

Cultivated in relatively cool temperate to warm subtropical climates. Sunflowers can also be grown in the drier tropical regions but are unsuitable for humid environments. They can grow in a wide range of soils from sandy to clayey provided they are deep, free-draining and not acidic. 

Description

Overview: Helianthus annuus is an annual herb which grows up to 5 metres tall with a well-developed taproot extending up to 3 metres into the soil. The stem is erect with a slight-to-severe curve below the flower head in mature plants. In many wild types it is branched whereas in cultivated varieties the stem is unbranched.

Leaves: The leaves are positioned opposite each other in the lower part of the plant and higher up the stem they are arranged spirally. Each leaf is hairy, 10-30 × 5-20 cm with toothed margins, and is supported by a long petiole. 

Flowers: The inflorescence is a terminal head (capitulum), 10-50 cm in diameter and is surrounded by three rows of bracts (phyllaries). The flower head is comprised of outer yellow ray florets, which serve to attract pollinators, and inner brownish disc florets which are fertile. The inner florets are numerous and are arranged in spiral whorls from the centre of the head. Each floret is about 2 cm long and consists of a 5-lobed, brown or purplish corolla tube and two deciduous bristly scales (pappus), 5 stamens united into a tube and an ovary which is positioned below the flower tube and stamens. The stigma has two curved lobes and there are nectaries at the base of the style. 

Fruit: The fruit (known botanically as an achene) is up to 15-25 mm in size and can be white, brown, black or striped.

Uses

Sunflower is mainly cultivated for its tasty seeds and versatile oil and to a lesser extent for ornamental purposes.

The seeds yield edible oil, which is excellent quality due to a high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, near absence of toxic substances, light colour and good flavour. The oil is used for salads, cooking and as an ingredient in the manufacture of margarine. The oil also has some industrial uses as drying oils for paints and varnishes and in the manufacture of soaps and cosmetics as well as a biofuel.

The by-product of sunflower oil extraction is a high protein meal, which is commonly blended with soyabean meal and used as livestock feed.

Sunflower meal is sometimes used as a substitute for wheat flour in the baking of bread and cakes for human consumption. The indigenous people of North America have a long tradition of using ground sunflower seeds to make bread-like products.

The varieties cultivated for their seeds are much larger than the oil-cultivars and are often black and white striped, are can be eaten directly. In countries like Russia, the sunflower seeds are salted and roasted whole and enjoyed as a delicious savoury snack. 

The smaller seeds are widely used in birdseed and in pet food. Some people air-dry the fruiting capitula and hang them upside down or simply leave the fruiting capitula on the plants for bird feed. Sunflower is sometimes cultivated as a forage crop.

Crop wild relatives of sunflower

The Millennium Seed Bank and the Global Crop Diversity Trust are engaged in a ten-year project, called 'Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change'. The project aims to protect, collect and prepare the wild relatives of 29 key food crops, including sunflower, so that they are available to pre-breeders for the development of new varieties that are more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Millennium Seed Bank: Seed storage

The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plants worldwide, focusing on those plants which are under threat and those which are of most use in the future. Once seeds have been collected they are dried, packaged and stored at -20°C in our seed bank vault.

Description of seeds: Average 1,000 seed weight = 42 g

Number of seed collections stored in the Millennium Seed Bank: One

Seed storage behaviour: Orthodox. (The seeds of this plant can be dried to low moisture contents without significantly reducing their viability. This means they are suitable for long-term frozen storage such as at the MSB)

Germination testing: Successful

Helianthus annuus is one of the species included in the 'Difficult Seeds' project because many of its seeds are short-lived and may not survive a long time in storage. 

This species at Kew

Pressed and dried specimens of sunflower are held in Kew's Herbarium, where they are available to researchers by appointment. Details and images of some of these specimens can be seen online in Kew's Herbarium Catalogue.

Distribution

USA

Ecology

Cultivated in relatively cool temperate to warm subtropical climates. More information below.

Conservation

Widespread in cultivation, rarely naturalizing.

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation

Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident

Distribution

Biogeografic region: Andean. Elevation range: 2630–2630 m a.s.l. Cultivated in Colombia. Naturalised in Colombia. Colombian departments: Antioquia, Bogotá DC, Boyacá, Cundinamarca.

Habit

Herb.

Conservation

IUCN Red List Assessment (2021): LC.

Ecology

Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, savanna, shrubland, native grassland, artificial - terrestrial.

Vernacular

Girasol

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit

Annual herb, up to 3 m tall or more; stems hairy

Morphology Leaves

Leaves alternate in upper part of stem, petiolate; blade narrowly to broadly ovate, up to at least 30 x 20 cm, usually serrate, hirsute

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Capitulum large, up to at least 20 cm in diam., nodding

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts Phyllaries

Phyllaries narrowly to broadly ovate, long-acuminate at the tip, usually hirsute and ciliate

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets

Ray florets yellow, usually 3 cm or more long

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Achenes c. 5 mm or more long.

Distribution

Grown as an ornamental at least in N1 (Hargeysa). Native from North America; widely cultivated.

Vernacular

Common sunflower (English)

Note

First record for Somalia.

Use

Guest states that Sunflower is sometimes cultivated in Iraq as a garden plant, chiefly for ornament, seldom as a crop, though it could be grown in lower Iraq as a summer oil-seed crop. He also observes that there is a good market for the seed (achenes), which can be used to express an oil used in soap and candle-making, as well as for salad oil and for lighting. The seeds can be used as poultry food, for mixing with bird seed and for human consumption. The crop is widely grown in Russia and C Europe, where large quantities of oil and oilcake are produced, oilcake being the residue of the achene mass after pressing, and a valuable cattle food. In the USA it is grown chiefly as a silage crop. Recent information on the cultivation of the crop in Iraq is given by Chakravarty, l.c.

Use

Oil, food, livestock feed, biofuel.

Use Animal Food

Used as animal food.

Use Environmental

Environmental uses.

Use Fuel

Used for fuels.

Use Gene Sources

Used as gene sources.

Use Food

Used for food.

Use Invertebrate Food

Used as invertebrate food.

Use Materials

Used as material.

Use Medicines

Medical uses.

Use Poisons

Poisons.

Use Social

Social uses.

Use

Widely grown for its oil-rich fruits or as an ornamental.