Sunflower

PLANTS (Flowers)

SUNFLOWER Common Name: Sunflower Scientific Name: Helianthus annuus Awards: State Flower of Kansas – 1903 and Kansas Wildflower of the Year – 2000 In September the fields and roadsides of the Great Plains erupt in a blaze of yellow as the sunflowers and goldenrods (also members of the sunflower family) make their presence known to the local pollinating insects. While many sunflower species may begin blooming in July, they are not as noticeable then as later on when they have grown up and over the surrounding vegetation. There are eleven species of sunflower recorded from Kansas. Most of them are perennials. Only the common sunflower and H. petiolaris, the Prairie Sunflower, are annuals. Identification of sunflowers can be very complicated because they frequently hybridize and even within species there is a high degree of variability. With a little practice, however, the most common species can be readily recognized. The Common Sunflower has a long history of association with people. Nearly 3,000 years ago it was domesticated for food production by the Native Americans. The seeds of the wild type of sunflower are only about 5 mm. long. It was only through careful selection for the largest size seeds over hundreds of years that the cultivated sunflower was produced. Lewis and Clark made mention in their journals of its usage by the plains Indians. It was brought back to the Old World by the early European explorers and widely cultivated there also. Today it is a common alternative crop in the Great Plains and elsewhere for food and oil production. Next time you munch down on some sunflower seeds, thank the many generations of Native Americans whose careful husbandry gave us this valuable food item. The wild cousins of those grown on the farm are still common, however, in fields, roadsides and disturbed ground throughout the Great Plains. The Common Sunflower is a typical member of the Asteraceae, one of the largest and most successful families of plants. Within the structure we think of as the "flower", it actually has two different types of flowers - ray and disk flowers. The ray flowers have the big, straplike structures that we see around the edge of the "flower" while the disk flowers occupy the middle of it. Within the Asteraceae, many confusing combinations of the two are possible along with the total absence of one or the other in some species! Individual ray or disk flowers may be male, female or both and either fertile or infertile (do or don't produce seeds). In sunflowers, the ray flowers are usually female and infertile. The disk flowers are both male and female and are fertile.

PLANTS (Flowers)

BUSH MORNING-GLORY Common Name: Bush Morning-glory Scientific Name: Ipomoea leptophylla A person travelling through the high plains in summer might notice a large spreading wildflower up to four feet high - almost a shrub - with huge pink/purple flowers on it growing on a roadside embankment. The flowers are funnel-shaped and up to 3 1/2 inches long. The leaves are quite skinny (length 2 - 8.5 cm, width 1 - 8 mm). This is the Bush Morningglory. It may be found west of the 97th meridian from the Black Hills of South Dakota to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to the Texas panhandle. It is the only member of its genus on the Great Plains that grows erect and bushy rather than by twining on its surroundings. Bush Morning-glory is a member of the same family of plants that includes the Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas), the garden varieties of Morningglory and Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis). The latter is one of our most pernicious weeds and should not be confused with Bush Morning-glory. The flowers of Bindweed are white and only about an inch across, its leaves are shaped like an arrowhead and it twines instead of standing erect. Aside from its flowers, the most startling thing about Bush Morning-glory is what is beneath the ground. It draws its nickname of "Man Root" from the huge taproot it develops, which is nearly the size of a person. Immediately below the ground surface and then for another foot or so, it will have a root about 1/2 inch in diameter. Below that, it will abruptly swell into a huge turnip-shaped taproot as much as 2 feet thick and 5-6 feet long! Lateral roots off this may extend out another 25 feet! Obviously, this species expects to see hard times and prepares accordingly. The root was used as a food source by Native Americans during winter. It needs to be boiled or baked because it is bitter when raw. Younger specimens were preferred to the gigantic older ones described above, both for reasons of taste and ease of digging them up!