Agricultural Information:

Plant Family: Asteraceae
Scientific name: Helianthus

Sunflowers are an annual plant native to the Americas with a rough, hairy stem and broad coarse leaves with a toothed edge. Plants generally range from 3 to 15 feet when grown in the right conditions, however, the world record is currently at over 30 feet tall.

What looks like a single flower is actually a flower head made of many small flowers or florets. The outer petals are ray florets, and the center contains many disk florets that then mature into seeds. Sunflowers exhibit heliotropism as young plants: the flower buds track the sun from east to west during the day. However, once mature, the flower head generally faces east.

Sunflower seeds are eaten raw, roasted, or used to extract sunflower seed oil. The seeds are also beneficial to feed bird populations.