First cultivated by Native peoples in the Southwest nearly 3,000 years ago, the sunflower has become one of the most well-known and highly prized plants across the world.
The Hidatsa, who live in present-day North Dakota, cultivated several varieties of sunflowers, drying the seeds for grinding into a paste, adding to flour to form cakes, and eating the seeds whole as a fiber-rich snack. They also extracted oil from the seeds for hair tonic, and used the root as a poultice for bruises, sores, and snakebites.
Do you know why this plant is called a sunflower? True to its name, the sunflower follows the track of the sun across the sky. The shaded side of the stem grows faster than the sunlit side, causing it to bend toward the sun.
Comments 0 comments