Sunflowers

//__**SUNFLOWER**__//



- Sunflower(North American) - It was first domesticated in Mexico, by around 2600 BC. - The earliest known examples of a fully domesticated sunflower were north of Mexico and date to around 2300 BC. - Many American people used the sunflower as the symbol of their sun-god. - Some researchers argue that the Spanish tried to suppress cultivation of the sunflower because of its connection with solar religion and warfare. - The sunflower got its name from its huge fiery blooms. - The heads consist of 1,000-2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base. - The flower was originally used for cattle food, and cooking ingredients. - Today the flower is used for cooking ingredients, while the stems contain a fibre which may be used in paper production. - It was made in hot weather in Mexico, that got almost no rain.
 * Plant Name:**
 * Domestication**:

- Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant. - Today it is a common alternative crop in the Great Plains and elsewhere for food and oil production. - Sunflowers are easy to grow and can be found in many varieties. - Sunflower’s requirements include //lots of sun//, //lots of water//, //support// and //room to grow//. - Sunflowers do not tolerate cool weather well, so be sure to plant after all risk of frost is over. - The roasted seeds make a coffee type drink, and also just for eating purposes. - Oil in the plant is used for putting on different food, such as salad, for cooking and in the manufacturing of margarine. - Bees are beneficial to sunflowers because they carry pollen from plant to plant which results in cross pollination.
 * Biology:**



- The sunflower is important for humans because world wide it is used for eating purposes and medical treatment. - Sunflowers are a great plant to keep around because of its many uses to humans - The sunflower has evolved from its ancestors thousands of years ago. It has alot more color and attraction to it.
 * Human/Plant relationship**:

- Doing this project on Sunflowers, I learned that there are many uses to the flower and that it has been around for thousands of years. I also learned that sunflowers originated in Mexico and with the many uses to the flower, it was used and a medicine for Indians years before. With the sunflower evolving, it now has alot more color to it than it did hundreds of years ago, so I wonder how much more it has evolved from what we know of. Humans are like sunflowers, in a way which they have evolved alot over hundreds of years. Humans have a pretty good control over nature in a way in which they have made the sunflowers evolve to look better and have more attraction to be bought and consumed. For further study, questions for me are that: How much will the sunflower evolve more in future years, and how will the flower affect us?
 * Reflection:**