Sunflower Pictures a Source of Beauty And Food

Sunflower pictures and the benefits you gain from these lovely flowers. Growing sunflowers for pictures fun and good health. Can you name any other flower in nature gives so much of itself? Well maybe. I know that lilies are also edible.

Sunflower As a Source of Food

Sunflower seeds are a good source of vitamins and minerals. And they have quite a good flavor. You can get quite a few seeds from a single sunflower. They are usually ready for harvest in late summer. And the the birds love them too. So if you are a bird lover and want to attract or feed them be sure and plant a sunflower or two.

Each head consists of a disk of small, tubular flowers surrounded by a fringe of large yellow petals.  A sunflower head may measure more than 1 foot (30 centimeters) in diameter and produce up to 1,000 seeds.  The head turns and faces toward the sun throughout the day. This is where the sunflower gets its name.

Sunflower Pictures

These sunflower pictures are a great indication that you don't have to have alot of space to grow sunflowers. These flowers are growing in a very small space in front of our neighbor's condo.

Click on the link below the small picture to open a window on this page. When the larger picture pops up, you can download it to your computer. You can also right click the link and choose the download uption. This can be tricky though. Many pictures have been lost on computers. A hint, the picture will download to the last folder you saved to. You can also do a search for the file name to locate your picture once it is on your computer.

Sunflower Pictures of Flowers Growing Around Our Neighborhood

Notice how the flower heads droop from the weight of this large sunflower? This is a good indication that the fruit of the flower is ready for picking and roasting. The fruit of these flowers grows in a protective husk. If you have any experience with sunflowers you may know it takes patients to get to that tasty center.

Sunflower seeds are rich in protein. They yield a high-quality vegetable oil used in making margarine and cooking oil. Some varieties of sunflowers have large striped seeds, which are roasted for snack food or blended with other grains to make birdseed.

The middle picture in this row is a red sunflower. I read in Wikipedia that red sunflowers are produced by breeding different varieties of sunflower seeds. This is the first time I have ever seen them.

The last thumbnail looks a little stretched because it is actually a picture taken in portrait orientation. When you click on the link the picture looks normal.

Sunflower Pictures Contributed From Dodie

These last three sunflower pictures were contributed by Dodie who lives in Virginia. She grows her own and harvests them for the family to enjoy. She is very proud of her garden as well she should be. Thank you Dodie for your lovely contribution.

A Little Sunflowr Trivia

Special oilseed varieties of sunflowers produce small black seeds that contain up to 50 percent oil. Sunflower seed oil accounts for about one eighth of all vegetable oils produced throughout the world. Sunflower seed oil is sometimes used as a replacement for diesel fuel.

History of The Sunflower

Sunflowers originated in North America and were introduced into Europe during the 1500's. Some species come up every year, but the most common ones must be grown annually from seeds.

Sunflowers are native to the Americas. They were domesticated around 1000 B.C. Franciso Pizarro found that the Inca tribes worshipped the sunflower as an image of their sun god. Early in the 16^th century gold images of the “flower” were taken back to Europe. They also took back seeds. The Greek word for “sunflower” is Helianthus. The information in this article was obtained from articles in Wikipedia(opens in new window).

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