Fun facts about sunflowers.* The sunflower is the state flower of Kansas. * Sunflower heads consist of 1,000 to 2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base. The large petals around the edge of a sunflower head are individual ray flowers which do not develop into seed. * Floating rafts of sunflowers are being used to clean up water contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. as a result of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the former Soviet Union. The roots of the sunflower plants remove 95% of the radioactivity in the water by pulling contaminants out of the water. * Cultivated sunflowers have only one flower or head on each plant. * Mount Sunflower is Kansas' highest point at 4,039 feet. * A sunflower is ready to harvest when the back portion of the head turns brown. * There are two kinds of sunflowers: confectionery sunflowers which are used for human consumption and bird feed, and oilseed oilseed the seeds of the linseed plant, rapeseed or canola, peanut, safflower (Carthamus tinctorius); biproduct oils from seeds include corn, grapeseed, olive, sesame, sunflower. sunflowers which are used as oil for human consumption and meal in livestock feed. * There are 50 species and 19 subspecies subspecies, also called race, a genetically distinct geographical subunit of a species. See also classification. of sunflowers found in the United States. * The sunflower is phototropic pho·tot·ro·pism n. Growth or movement of a sessile organism toward or away from a source of light. pho when the plant is in the bud stage, meaning that it tends to follow the movement of the sun from east in the morning to west in the afternoon. Once the flower opens, most sunflowers face east. * Most oilseed sunflower varieties are the result of hybridization hybridization /hy·brid·iza·tion/ (hi?brid-i-za´shun) 1. crossbreeding; the act or process of producing hybrids. 2. molecular hybridization 3. . This means insects are not required for pollination pollination, transfer of pollen from the male reproductive organ (stamen or staminate cone) to the female reproductive organ (pistil or pistillate cone) of the same or of another flower or cone. of the flowers, even though they may be helpful. |
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