The common sunflower is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds which are used in the production of cooking oil, as well as other uses such as food for livestock, bird food, and planting in domestic gardens for aesthetics. Wild plants are known for their multiple flower heads, whereas the domestic sunflower often possesses a single large flower head atop an unbranched stem.
Helianthus is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of Helianthus are native to North America and Central America. The best-known species is the common sunflower. This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke, are cultivated in temperate regions and some tropical regions, as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants. The species H. annuus typically grows during the summer and into early fall, with the peak growth season being mid-summer.
Helianthus nuttallii, or Nuttall's sunflower, is a species of sunflower native to northern, central, and western North America, from Newfoundland west to British Columbia, south to Missouri, New Mexico, and California.
Helianthus pauciflorus, called the stiff sunflower, is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread across the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Lakes region, and naturalized in scattered locations in the eastern United States and in much of southern Canada.
Helianthus giganteus, the giant sunflower or tall sunflower, is a species of Helianthus native to the eastern United States and eastern and central Canada, from Newfoundland west to Alberta south to Minnesota, Mississippi, and South Carolina.
Helianthus × laetiflorus, the cheerful sunflower or perennial sunflower, is a plant in the family of Asteraceae. It is widespread in scattered locations across much of Canada from Newfoundland to British Columbia, and the central and eastern United States as far south as Texas and Georgia. This species is also commonly cultivated and may escape cultivation and be found in areas outside of its core range.
Helianthus maximiliani is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name Maximilian sunflower.
Helianthus divaricatus, commonly known as the rough sunflower, woodland sunflower, or rough woodland sunflower, is a North American species perennial herb in the family Asteraceae. It is native to central and eastern North America, from Ontario and Quebec in the north, south to Florida and Louisiana and west to Oklahoma and Iowa.
Helianthus petiolaris is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae, commonly known as the prairie sunflower or lesser sunflower. Naturalist and botanist Thomas Nuttall was the first to describe the prairie sunflower in 1821. The word petiolaris in Latin means, “having a petiole”. The species originated in Western United States, but has since expanded east. The prairie sunflower is sometimes considered a weed.
Helianthus decapetalus, known by the common names thinleaf sunflower and thin-leaved sunflower, is a perennial forb in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the Eastern and Central United States and Canada, from New Brunswick west to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ontario, south as far as Georgia and Louisiana. It produces yellow composite flowers in late summer or early fall.
Helianthus deserticola, the desert sunflower, is a plant species native to Arizona, Nevada and Utah. It grows in dry, sun-lit locations at elevations of 400–1,500 m (1,300–4,900 ft).
Helianthus anomalus, the western sunflower, is a species of plants in the family Asteraceae, found in the southwestern United States.
Helianthus eggertii, known as Eggert's sunflower, is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Alabama. It is best known as one of the few plants to have been delisted under the Endangered Species Act because of the species' recovery. It was described by John Kunkel Small in 1903.
Helianthus strumosus, the pale-leaf woodland sunflower, is a species of sunflower native to North America east of the Great Plains and is in the family Asteraceae. It is a native perennial sunflower that resembles other members of this family including the Pale Sunflower, Woodland Sunflower, Hispid Sunflower, and Jerusalem Artichoke. Pale-leaf sunflowers can be found in a diverse range of habitats including woodland areas, prairies, and meadows, providing that these habitats have access to partial sun.
Helianthus neglectus is a species of sunflower known by the common names neglected sunflower. It is native to the southwestern United States in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas.
Helianthus praecox is a North American species of sunflower known by the common name Texas sunflower. It is endemic to Texas. Most of the populations are either along the Gulf Coast or in the Río Grande Valley.
Helianthus smithii is a rare North American species of sunflower known by the common name Smith's sunflower. It is native to the southeastern United States, in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia.
Helianthus nuttallii subsp. parishii is a subspecies of the species Helianthus nuttallii in the genus Helianthus, family Asteraceae. It is also known by the common names Los Angeles sunflower and Parish's sunflower. This subspecies has not been seen, in the wild or in cultivation, since 1937.
Charles Bixler Heiser Jr. (1920–2010) was a professor of botany, known as a leading expert on the sunflower genus Helianthus. He is also noteworthy as the author of a "series of popular books that did much to promote botany to the general public."
Helianthus devernii is a North American species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae, known by the common name Red Rock sunflower. The perennial herbaceous plant is endemic to a portion of Nevada's Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area measuring less than 1 acre (4,000 m2), where it grows in just two desert spring locations within the Mojave Desert.
