Sun. Although sunflower’s bright yellow ray flowers are unmistakable, its most common form may be more familiar to city dwellers as a wild plant than as a cultivated specimen. Individuals are tall and leafy, with noticeably hairy stems branching heavily and bearing multiple flowerheads. The central disc is maroon-colored. The ancestral plant has yielded many cultivars.
Common sunflower is a powerhouse for butterflies, both as a nectar source and a larval host. Seeds provide food and cover for wildlife and many birds, including Inca doves and finches. The seeds and flowers have long been cultivated for flour, cooking oil, and dye. The large-headed single-stemmed heirloom varieties were developed as a source of sunflower oil in 19th-century Russia and Ukraine, where the Russian Orthodox Church forbade butter, lard, and olive oil during Lent.
Common sunflower spreads easily by seed and grows swiftly in early summer. It requires little water or maintenance and adapts easily to many soil types. Deadheading (by cutting 1/2″ above buds) can produce additional blooms on multi-branched varieties.
The quintissential native sunflower is tall and stout, providing instant habitat for birds and pollinators
