Mind-Blowing Facts about Sunflower
It is important that we flourish our garden knowledge on sunflower oil. Sunflower is considered as a multipurpose plant as it helps in making healthy snacks, cosmetics, cardiac boost. It is also used as edible oil and as bird seeds. Learn exciting facts about sunflower oil and start using it on your regular routine.
- Sunflower is a native of America, it is believed that it was cultivated first in North America around 3000 BC. After realizing its various benefits on food, health, oil, dye, cosmetics and in the field of cooking it was exported to various countries by the Spanish conquerors with an aim to trade sunflower plants.
- Though sunflower oil has its origin in North America, it became extremely popular in Russia. It was Brought to Russia by the Great Tsar Peter, who was fascinated and attracted by the supreme beauty of sunflower under the rays of the sun during his visit to Netherlands. Slowly it began to reach every part of the country for its elegant beauty and its various profitable uses.
- Soon countries like Canada began to use it as an alternative to animal fats as sunflower oil has a lower cholesterol level.
- In average sunflower needs a lot of sunlight and space to grow. It can grow upto 16 feet tall and there are 70 varieties of sunflower with unique structure and colour variations and the growth of each variety differs accordingly. Sunflowers should not be closely planted as it forbids its growth and they need a lot of space to blossom to their potential.
- Sunflowers show an unbelievable behaviour called Heliotropism, which means they track the direction of the sun. It is amazing to see that the flower buds and the young blossoms face east in the morning and follow the direction of the sun during the day. But after they get matured the ample production of seed makes the flower feel heavier and they will remain facing the east.
- It is astonishing to know that each sunflower head is made up of a number of small flowers clustered together in the center. The center disc is surrounded by hundreds of soft petals which are called ray florets. The disc in the middles is embedded by thousands of sunflower seeds and they have both male and female sex organs to produce seed. Sunflower can self pollinate as well as carry out pollination through wind and insects.
- Once the seeds are shredded from the matured flower, the head of the flower can be used as a scrubbing pad to clean delicate articles.
- In 2014 summer, a veteran named Hans-peter Schiffer made a Guinness world record by growing sunflower to the height of 30 feet.
Sunflower has a history of healing. They are used in Mexico and by the tribes of Native America as a medicine to soothe and subside chest pain. The infusion of sunflower is also used to treat kidneys and other pulmonary troubles. - Sunflowers were taken to space by a U.S astronaut named Don Petite in the year 2012. He took sunflower seeds with him and successfully planted it on space along with potatoes and had shared the images of the gardening process.
