Sunflower

Parts Usually Used

Whole plant, especially the seeds

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Sunflower is an annual plant growing 6-10 feet high; leaves mostly alternate, rough-hairy, broadly heart or spade-shaped. The flowers are orange-yellow; disk flat, flowers from July to October. The wild parent of the domesticated sunflower.

Where Found

Found on prairies, roadsides. Minnesota to Texas; escaped from cultivation elsewhere. A North American native plant.

Medicinal Properties

Diuretic, expectorant

Biochemical Information

The seeds are exceptionally rich in polyunsaturates (approx. 80%) and high quality plant protein, plus natural vitamins and minerals. (thiamine (B1), niacin, potassium, iron, phosphorus, calcium, iodine, fluorine, magnesium, sodium, vitamins D and E).

Legends, Myths and Stories

The wild ancestor of the common Sunflower has smaller blooms than the cultivated plants. Competitions are organized to see who can grow the largest sunflower. The present record is 25 feet tall; the largest blossom ever found was over 32 inches across. (Cultivated plants; (H. giganteus)) There are many good varieties of sunflower available; some are best for seed production, and others for ornamental value.

In 1835 a practical gardener in the Ukraine cultivated the first commercial sunflower plantation. Fifteen or twenty years later, the waste areas of central Russia, Ukraine, south Russia and many parts of Siberia were covered with the plants. Native Americans used the seeds as a source of meal; the Spanish conquerors of South and Central America discovered the sunflower and its uses, carrying the seeds to the Old World spreading the plant across Europe.

The Incas of Peru made the sunflower a part of religious practices. The Chinese cultivate sunflower and use it for food, the fruits are fed to fowls, the leaves are made fodder for cattle, and the stalks and roots are used as fuel. No medical qualities have been found ascribed to this plant by the Chinese.

Uses

Native Americans historically brewed a tea from the flowers for respiratory complaints. An infusion of the leaves was traditionally utilized for fevers, while poultices made from the roots were applied to snakebites and spider bites. Traditional practitioners considered the seeds and leaves to possess diuretic and expectorant properties, and the leaves were valued as an astringent and incorporated into herbal smoking mixtures.

Herbal traditions also recommended the seeds for constipation and eye health, and employed the plant for dysentery as well as bladder and kidney inflammations.

How Sold

Most of the sunflower oil commercially offered has been refined. It is still relatively valuable but does not have the value of unrefined oil with its full content of highly unsaturated fatty acids. Also, the sunflower seeds need not be cooked or roasted, as commercially offered. Fresh sunflower seeds are best for nutritional value.

Bibliography

American Folk Medicine , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 Chinese Medicinal Herbs , compiled by Shih-Chen Li, Georgetown Press, San Francisco, California, 1973.

The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. , Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R. , Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973 Indian Uses of Native Plants , by Edith Van Allen Murphey, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1958, print 1990 The Magic of Herbs in Daily Living , by Richard Lucas, Parker Publishing Co.

(1988). Prairie Smoke , by Melvin R. Gilmore, Minnesota Historical Society Press, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101, copyright 1987. The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine , by Dr. A. , 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT. 06840-0876. Copyright Verlag A. Vogel, Teufen (AR) Switzerland 1952, 1991 The Old Herb Doctor , by Joseph E. Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1984, sixth printing 1994.

Old Ways Rediscovered , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, published from 1954, print 1988 The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine , by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H.

Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974