Sunflower Seed or sunflower Kernels:what is Marigold of Peru.Corona Solis.Sola Indianus.Chrysanthemum Peruvianum?

article content dotArticle Content:

Sunflower Historical Perspective.

Sunflower seed Extract INCI Name Helianthus Annuus Seed Extract CAS 84776-03-4 sunflower seed kernel extract HELIANTHUS ANNUUS SEED EXTRACT photo picture image Sunflowers are native to the Americas, and were domesticated around 1000 B.C. Francisco Pizarro found the Inca subjects venerating the sunflower as an image of their sun god, and gold images of the "flower" as well as seeds were taken back to Europe early in the 16th century. Helianthus is from the Greek for "sunflower".

 Sunflower, native to North America, is the state flower of Kansas and grows wild in many areas of the United States of America (USA). Sunflower has a long and varied history as an economic plant, but the time and place of its first cultivation is uncertain. Sunflower was used by North American Indians before colonization of the New World. Spanish explorers collected sunflower in North America and by 1580 it was a common garden flower in Spain. Early English and French explorers, finding sunflower in common use by the American Indians, also introduced it to their respective lands. It spread along the trade routes to Italy, Egypt, Afghanistan, India, China, and Russia. Sunflower developed as a premier oilseed crop in Russia and has found wide acceptance throughout Europe. Oilseed sunflower has been an economically important crop in the USA since 1966. Before 1966, sunflower acreage in the USA was devoted primarily to nonoilseed varieties.

 The center of sunflower origin has been identified as limited to the western plains of North America, but it has not been determined whether the domesticated type originated in the southwest or in the Mississippi or Missouri River valleys. The wild form of the cultivated sunflower is well known, which is not true with most of our cultivated crop species today.

 The American Indians used sunflower as a foodstuff before the cultivation of corn. Sunflower also was used as a medicinal crop, source of dye, oil for ceremonial body painting and pottery, and as a hunting calendar. When sunflower was tall and in bloom, the buffalo were fat and the meat good.

 Cultivation of sunflower was undertaken by New World settlers as a supplementary food. Later, sunflower was grown primarily as a garden ornament. It also was grown as an ensilage crop in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

 Expanded world production of sunflower resulted primarily from development of high-oil varieties by plant scientists and more recently by the development of hybrids. Sunflower is widely grown in the world where the climates are favorable and a high quality oil is desired.

Last PageNext Page

Reference:

citations1.Sunflower Seed or sunflower Kernels:what is Marigold of Peru.Corona Solis.Sola Indianus.Chrysanthemum Peruvianum?

last edit date:26th,June.2009.