Happy Saturday Everyone! Today, I decided to bring a little sunshine into your December with my favourite flower!
Out of the 70
species of sunflower, all but 3 are native to North America, the others being
from South America. This plant has had
many uses over the decades and centuries, especially to the various Native
American tribes that called North America home.
The seeds were ground or pounded into flour and then used for mush,
bread or cakes, as well as being cracked and eaten for a snack. Some mixed the meal of the sunflower plant
with other vegetables, such as corn, beans and squash as well.
Though
originating in North America, much like a variety of plants, sunflower seeds
were taken across the ocean to both Europe, by those who explored and
discovered the New World, and to Russia by Peter the Great. By the early 1800s, over 2 million acres of
sunflowers were being grown in Russia, during which time 2 specific types had
been identified: oil-type and those for direct human consumption. Though they were used mostly as an ornamental
plant, there is a record of a patent in England in 1716 for squeezing the oil
out of sunflower.
Interesting
fact: The sunflowers we see today are not in fact what the original plants
looked like. Over the generations of
growing them, the plants were encouraged to produce bigger seeds and many more
of them as well, so the original characteristics have been interfered with for
thousands of years.
Take care!
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