SunFlower

Sunflowers are tall plants with large, flat flowers. They come from North America but now grow in other parts of the world too. More sunflowers are grown in Russia than in any other countries.

There are several kinds of flowers but the one we are most familiar with has bright yellow petals. Sunflowers can grow over 7 metres tall. The flower head can be 30 to 40 cm across, as big as a dinner plate.

Sunflower seed are planted in the ground in the spring. It takes about 10 weeks for the sunflower head to open. Each flower head contains hundreds of tiny flowers called florets. All sunflowers turn to face the sun. As the sun moves across the sky, the flowers heads turn to follow it...

Most sunflower seeds are crushed and made into animal feed or squeezed to make sunflower oil and margarine. Some seeds are roasted for us to eat as snacks.

Now that you know how sunflowers come about, don't you agree with me that they are such sunny, beautiful flowers!