Description
The Common Sunflower (Helianthus annus), a wild native of the American Southwest, is a member of the Asteraceae family. It has a well-known characteristic, called heliotropism, of pivoting its leaves and buds to track the path of the sun from sunrise to sunset. Once the flowers open, they are oriented to the east to greet the rising sun. The common sunflower thrives in the dry, brown disturbed soils of the southwest, turning the arid landscape into a shimmering yellow carpet that attracts wildlife, insects and human visitors alike. In Northern Arizona, the Navajo ancestors extracted a dark red dye from the outer seed coats and the Hopi cultivated a purple sunflower to make a special dye. The sunflower seed was an important food source for most North American tribes. The sunflower, with its large yellow flowers, is also an iconic art symbol and the state flower of Kansas. After the Summer Monsoon rains bring moisture to the region, sunflowers bloom in fields all over Northern Arizona. This field of sunflowers was photographed at Campbell Meadows in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.