Ever since the talented designer who worked on my book Happy Healthy Sober came up with the sunflower image, I have been a bit obsessed with them. They make me happy!
I discovered that each sunflower is actually thousands of teeny flowers and the blossom of the sunflower is called a head. The yellow petals (ray florets) and fuzzy brown centers are actually individual flowers themselves and around 2,000 can make up the sunflower bloom. The centers of the bloom are called disc florets, this is where the seeds develop. Each sunflower can contain as many as 1,000 to 2,000 seeds.
Sunflowers are native to North America. Like potatoes, tomatoes, and corn, sunflowers were first grown in North America over 5000 years ago. There are about 70 species of sunflowers. Their scientific name is Helianthus (which comes from the Greek words for “sun” and “flower”). Sunflowers can be different shapes, and some can be tall while others are short. There are around 70 species and the tallest on record was over 30 feet tall!
Don’t forget you can boost your nutrition and assuage your sugar head with roasted sunflower seeds as a healthy snack (beats raiding the fridge for ice cream!)
What little things keep you happy, healthy, sober ?
Source Royalton Memorial Library – who have a take-home sunflower activity kit for kids