sunflowers

the sunflower story

 In 3000 BC, our ancestors were not watching will-they-won’t-they comedies on Netflix or FaceTiming their pet dog while at a conference. Instead, they were sowing the seeds for our future existence. No, that’s not a metaphor designed to elicit empathy for those who came before us, but fact. Our ancestors were getting busy with sunflowers. The very plant that would later become synonymous with happiness and its seeds synonymous with pre-dinner snacking. The story of the sunflower is fascinating. The plant traversed the world for centuries before it was crowned with the international congeniality it’s known for today. Native to North America in present-day Arizona and New Mexico, the sunflower was cultivated into a single-headed plant and crop-farmed by American Indians. In an era where nothing went to waste, the sunflower proved to be versatile in its use, and archaeologists suggest it was domesticated before corn. Cherokee and other American Indian tribes quickly discovered the nutritional benefits of the sunflower seed’s natural fat and oil content and introduced the plant into their diet. Seeds were ground into flour and used in cakes, in breads and as a thickening agent in soups, or simply cracked and eaten as a snack.

Beyond dietary usage, the plant’s bright yellow petals were used to make dye for textiles and body paint, its oil used to moisturise skin and hair, and the leftover stem used as building material. In some cases, the sunflower was also used medicinally on snake bites and other wounds.

The impressive versatile nature of the sunflower soon caught the attention of the Old World (Europe) when the Spanish explored the New World (the Americas) and brought seeds home, circa 1500. Fields of bright yellow flowers popped up all over Europe, where the sunflower was originally seen as a decorative plant with ornamental purpose—probably in a vase on a mantel in a sitting room with a forlorn housekeeper standing next to it wondering how strong you need to be to actually tear this plant from the ground (answer: very strong).

The beauty of the sunflower erupted, inspiring the works of Impressionist-era artists including