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Sunflowers all about

Posted on August 5, 2010August 25, 2010 by Staff
PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Spiraling disc flowers characterize the center of giant sunflowers.

By Ken Moore
Flora Column

I’ve enjoyed a couple dozen varieties of giant sunflowers, Helianthus annuus, scattered about my fenced-in veggie garden for the past month. The sunflower heads of various sizes and colors looking down from six-to-eight-foot stems are a colorful and exciting addition.

The designs of those hundreds of little tubular disc flowers spiraling around from the center of each giant flower head are unbelievable. In addition, those flower heads are in constant activity with visiting bees, wasps and butterflies. Goldfinches balancing upside down on the flower heads extracting ripened sunflower seeds provide excitement any time of day.

I’m proud of my collection of sunflowers, but none of mine are as in-your-face dramatic at those standing sentinel above the veggie and herb beds at Johnny’s on West Main Street.

Those sunflowers seem to talk to admirers, particularly the children, who peer up at them, and the speechless wonder on the faces of smaller children held up by parents is a joy to observe.

The giant sunflower is one of the very few worldwide commercial crops that originated on our American soil. Native Americans had already begun hybridizations and spread it far and wide from its southwest and northern Mexico center of origin before early explorers observed it in the late 15th century. Native Americans used it medicinally for everything from snakebite to rheumatism; it was a staple in their diets and was used as a visual element in important ceremonies.

It quickly made its way over to Europe and beyond. It was easily cultivated almost everywhere, even in faraway Russia, where in the mid-1800s its nutritional and economic importance was greatly improved. It’s fun to reflect that those beautiful Van Gogh sunflowers originated in southwestern North America.
Over at Johnny’s, though, I was more excited to find an impressive specimen of one of our commonest native perennial sunflowers. There are more than two dozen species of wild sunflowers in North Carolina. Most species of Helianthus are perennial and none of them are as large as the giant flowered annual. They are, however, quite beautiful and easily cultivated.
That impressive multi-stemmed specimen at Johnny’s seems to be Helianthus resinosus, formerly classified as H. tomentosus. While I have considered it common along roadsides, current botanists describe it as infrequent across the state. I’ll leave it to them to complete mapping out its natural distribution.
Johnny’s proprietor Brian Plaster obtained his specimen at the Raleigh Farmers’ Market. You’re got to see it to believe it. Wish I had it in my garden. I suspect, like the giant annual helianthus, it has undergone a bit of hybridization. A similar-looking helianthus is Jerusalem artichoke, H. tuberosus, frequently cultivated in gardens for its tasty tubers.
Keep a watchful eye on roadsides during the remainder of the summer. You’ll spot several species of the wild sunflowers standing tall with lots of bright-yellow composite flowers. As those seed heads ripen, you’ll also spot goldfinches flitting about.

Email Ken Moore at flora@carrborocitizen.com.

PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Multiple flower heads characterize the many species of wild sunflowers along roadsides.
PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Young Carrboro resident Avery Spade studies the giant sunflowers at Johnny’s.

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