Sunflowers brighten fall landscape
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
Wild sunflowers may not be much in evidence along major roadways in Kansas, but they continue to flourish throughout the countryside wherever herbicides haven't destroyed them. With bright yellow petals and dark brown centers, they stand out as beacons of light among the fall foliage.
Sunflowers are as native to Kansas as the Native American tribes that used to live here.
The seeds of wild sunflowers probably were used by the natives even before they learned to cultivate corn, beans, and squash. The seeds were roasted and eaten or ground into fine meal to thicken soups and stews.
The roasted hulls were used to make a kind of "coffee."
Dye was extracted from the hulls and petal, and face paint was made from dried petals mixed with pollen.
Dried sunflower stalks were utilized as building material.
The oil had many uses including hair oil, cooking oil, and medicine for warts, snake bites, heat stroke, and coughs.
The name "sunflower" comes from its scientific name, Helianthus, Helia meaning "sun" and Anthus meaning "flower." There are many different species. Some are short and some are tall.
In 1903, the Kansas Legislature made the sunflower the state flower. Kansas became known as "The Sunflower State." A sunflower is pictured with a buffalo on the Kansas quarter that was issued in 2005.
American journalist Jim Lehrer, a native of Kansas, once described himself as a sunflower. In a speech as part of the Landon Lecture Series at Kansas State University, he said:
"I was, indeed, born in Kansas and bred in Kansas and I will forever be a sunflower from the Sunflower State."
