Sunflowers

Published in Kanhistique January 1993

Sunflowers

Although the sunflower was approved as our state flower March 12, 1903, some more prim and proper folks wonder why this almost gaudy stalked flower that resembles a weed was selected.

The sunflower is a new world plant belonging to the Helianthus family, so called because their golden-rayed heads are likened to the sun. Their large somewhat heart-shaped leaves are numerous on a tall stalk. This robust annual sunflower with its nodding head that inclines to the sun is native to the prairies. In the early days of wagon trains, the sunflower sprang up on either side of the trail where wagon wheels had broken the soil. Now they grow, covering large tracts of land, with the face of the flower measuring from cup size to the diameter of a dinner plate.

Many seed-eating animals and birds have found the seeds a delight. To the American Indian the different species of sunflowers were a healthy change in their diet, from the oily seeds to the tuber roots known as Indian potato of Jerusalem artichokes.

As the sunflower has evolved, it has been used as fodder for livestock, sunflower oil for cooking and those numerous salty sunflower seeds consumed while watching a ball game.

Each year my father plants a row of sunflowers as a windbreak for his garden. As a bonus he enjoys watching the birds, especially the yellow grosbeak, hanging from the sunflowers eating the seeds.

You can find the sunflower on the Kansas flag just above the state seal. It is said that the open frankness of the sunflower is indicative of the fearlessness with which Kansas meets her problems and solves them.

Several years ago my daughter traveled with other 4-H’ers on the Washington Focus Trip. The 4-H delegates from Kansas all wore sunflower pins and had extras to trade.

Now, 90 years after it became our state flower, the sunflower has returned as the true treasure it really is. I’ve recently seen the sunflower dried or as a silk flower in every kind of floral arrangement you could think of in very trendy boutiques. The sunflower is on quilts, dishes, place mats and napkins.

So today, as a proud Kansan, I can wear my silk sunflower pin on my vest and no one will mistake it for a weed.

Story ID:	839
Written by:	Cynthia Jo Ross (bio, contact, other stories)
Organization:	Lens to the Past
Story type:	Biography
Location:	Andover Kansas USA
Year:	1993