The sunflower originally comes from North and Central America. It was cultivated by the North American and Mexican Indians more than 4,500 years ago. It was not until 1552 that Spanish sailors brought sunflower seeds to Europe.
Where does the sunflower come from?
The sunflower originally comes from North and Central America, where it was cultivated by Indians over 4,500 years ago. Spanish sailors brought it to Europe in 1552, where it is now popular as a food, ornamental and oil plant.
Fat supplier of the North American Indians
The North American Indians cultivated the sunflower as a food plant quite early on. They used the oil-containing kernels to enrich their food with fat.
During archaeological excavations in North America, researchers found particularly large sunflower seeds that were dated to be several thousand years old. They conclude that the indigenous Indian peoples already grew the sunflower as a food plant.
The sunflower is still a state symbol of the US state of Kansas today.
Ornamental plant of the Incas
Among the Incas, the sunflower was primarily worshiped as an image of their god.
The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizzaro made this observation at the beginning of the 16th century.
The Incas kept the flower as an ornamental plant and did not use it as a crop, probably because they had a large selection of other fatty plant species at their disposal.
Use as an oil supplier in Europe
The seeds of the sunflower were used as a substitute for coffee or in baked goods soon after they spread to Europe. It was only in the 19th century that the sunflower gained its current importance as an oil supplier.
Since then it has been cultivated industrially in many countries for the production of sunflower oil for food purposes, as industrial oil and for medicinal oils. The oil is considered particularly he althy because of its high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids. The main growing areas are:
- China
- United States
- Russia
- Ukraine
- Western European countries
Popular garden plant
The sunflower is not only widely planted in this country as a useful plant.
Since planting and care are not complicated and the sunflowers cope well with the local climate, the flower has become one of the most popular garden plants.
Tips & Tricks
The botanical name of the sunflower Helianthus anuus is derived from the Greek words Helios=sun and Anthus=flower. Anuus means the plant is an annual. However, the Greek plants are probably a different species than the ornamental and useful plants known today as sunflowers.
