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: Sunflowers is also a painting by Vincent van Gogh.
The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a large (to 3 m) annual plant in the Family Asteraceae with a flower head ( inflorescence) that is as much as 30 cm (1 ft) across and notable for turning to face towards the sun.
1 History
Sunflowers are native to the Americas, and were domesticated around 1000 B.C. Francisco Pizarro found the Incas venerating the sunflower as an image of their sun god, and gold images of the "flower" as well as seeds were taken back to Europe early in the 16th century. Helianthus is from the GreekThe Greek language ( /Elini'k{/) is an Indo-European language which has existed from around the 14th century BC in the Cretan inscriptions called Linear B. Mycenaean Greek of this period is distinguished from later Classical or Ancient Greek of the 8th ce for "sunflower".
2 Description
The term "sunflower" is also used to refer to all plants of the genus Helianthus, many of which are perennial plants.
What is called the flowerA flower is the reproductive organ of those plants classified as angiosperms ( flowering plants; Division Magnoliophyta). The function of a flower is to produce seeds through sexual reproduction''. For the higher plants, seeds are the next generation, and is actually a head (formerly composite flower) of numerous flowers crowded together. The outer flowers are the ray florets and can be yellowYellow is the color of light whose wavelength is between 565nm and 590nm, or is a mixture of red and green light that appears to be the same color. Yellow is one of the subtractive primary colours ( primary pigments), and its complementary color is blue., maroonScroll down for alternative meanings. Maroon is a color mixture composed of brown and purple. Although conceptually a color mixture, it can be regarded as a dark (and possibly also desaturated) shade of red. Derived from French marron ("chestnut"), it did, orangeSee also Orange for other meanings of the word. The colour orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 620-585 nanometres. It is the same colour as the fruit for which it was named. With natural colouring material, or other colors. These flowers are sterile. The flowers that fill the circular head inside the ray flowers are called disc florets. The arrangement of florets within this cluster is typically such that each is separated from the next by approximately the golden angleIn geometry, the golden angle is the angle created by dividing the circumference c of a circle into a section a and a smaller section b such that : and : and taking the angle of arc subtended by the length of circumference equal to b as the golden angle., producing a pattern of spirals where the number of left spirals and the number of right spirals are successive Fibonacci numbers. The disc florets mature into "seeds". However, what we commonly call the seeds are actually the fruit (an achene) of the plant, with the true seeds encased in an inedible husk. Sunflower "whole seeds" (fruit) are sold as snacks, especially in the United States and Europe, and as food for birds.
Sunflowers being grown commercially in Fargo North Dakota.
