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 seafarers brought sunflower seeds back to Europe.

The sunflower originally comes from North and Central America

Supplier of fat to the North American Indians

The North American Indians grew the sunflower as a food crop very early on. They used the oily kernels to enrich their food with fat.

During archaeological excavations in North America, the researchers found particularly large seeds of the sunflower, which are dated to be several thousand years old. From this they conclude that the indigenous peoples already cultivated the sunflower as a food plant.

Even today, the sunflower is a state symbol of the US state of Kansas.

ornamental plant of the Incas

The Incas worshiped the sunflower primarily as an image of their god.

The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizzaro made this observation in the early 16th century.

The Incas kept the flower as an ornamental rather than as a crop, presumably because they had a wide variety 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 baked goods soon after they spread to Europe. It was not until the 19th century that the sunflower gained its current importance as an oil supplier.

Since then, it has been industrially cultivated in many countries for the production of sunflower oil for food, industrial oil and medicinal oils. The oil is considered to be particularly healthy 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 frequently planted as a useful plant in this country.

Since planting and care are not expensive and the sunflowers do well with the local climate, the flower has become one of the most popular garden plants.

tips and tricks

The botanical name of the sunflower Helianthus anuus is derived from the Greek words Helios = sun and Anthus = flower. Anuus means that the plant is annual. The Greek plants are probably a different species than the ornamental and useful plants known today as sunflowers.

Category:

Vegetable garden