Seeds and stem to root, the sunflower is a most amazing plant. The colorful brilliance and statuesque beauty of the sunflower is often the subject of artwork, most notably the series of famous watercolors produced by Vincent Van Gogh.

Native to North American, the sunflower was introduced to Columbus by the American Indians in 1492 as a food source. We now know much more about the attributes of this miracle of nature. Since at least the 1950's, plant breeders have studied, dissected, and bred as a wondercrop to increase their height and also bred to decrease their height in order to make their harvesting more manageable. It is possible to produce 5 to 6 tons of sunflowers per acre and is easy to grow and still inexpensive to the consumer.

The Sunflower seed is classified as a functional food that provides many benefits other than just basic nutrition, including heart benefits, cholesterol lowering and even cognitive function. The seed is high in protein but also low in fat. The short list of nutrients in the seeds are calcium, thiamine, niacin and vitamins D and E. The kernel of the seed itself can be eaten raw from the shell or pressed to derive sunflower oil then used as a healthful unsaturated fat cooking alternative. The ground meal is a byproduct of the oil extraction process and is then used for a variety of purposes, including flour that is up to 50 percent protein. This same meal is also used to feed livestock with a high percentage of food value.

When the thick sunflower stem is crushed and compressed the result is a nutrient rich fertilizer, Inside the stalk itself is sweet to the taste. Considering the tallest sunflower on record is over 25 feet in height, the yield from just one plant can be large volume.

One species of sunflower has an edible tuber root referred to as a "Jerusalem Artichoke" or a Sunroot. French explorers found American Indians eating this root which resembles a large peanut or a good size potato. A white flour meal with a variety of applications can also be derived from this root. Further research on the sunflower plant may also yield information about potential fuel properties, including the roots.

The largest sunflower head on record was 32 inches in diameter and the record for most sunflower heads on one plant is 837. Sunflower allergies are described as very rare. The largest sunflower producer is Russia and in the U.S. the major producing states are the Dakotas, Minnesota, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Texas and California.

Learn more about this author, Sharon Ruth Hill.
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