No flower can lift spirits quite like sunflowers can. Bright and cheery, bold yet comfortable the sunflower is a warm and caring gift. With brilliant yellow petals that surround the flower’s center, sunflowers have an unmistakable sun-like appearance that has made them a passionate flower choice for many. Sunflowers come in a number of varieties, ranging from small to large and from daylight yellows to sunset reds.

Sunflowers originated in the Americas in 1000B.C. where, for centuries, they were cultivated as a valuable food source. The use of sunflower images as religious symbols has also been documented in some native societies. With the European exploration of the New World, the sunflower was brought to new areas, and the flower’s popularity eventually spread as the rest of the world began to appreciate its beauty and sustenance. Artists throughout history have appreciated the sunflower’s unique splendor, and those of the Impressionist era were especially fixated on the flower. Today, sunflowers continue to provide a resource for commonly used seeds and oil, but they have also become recognized as a floral symbol of great significance.

Much of the meaning of sunflowers stems from its namesake, the sun itself. Wild sunflowers are often photographed with their tall stalks and bright petals stretched towards the sun. This unique behavior, known as phototropism, is a motif that has appeared in many ancient myths and is viewed as a symbol of loyalty and constancy. Their physical resemblance to the sun has also influenced their meanings. The sunflower’s petals have been likened to bright yellow rays of sunshine, which evoke feelings of warmth and happiness. In addition, the sunflower is often associated with adoration and longevity.

For a flower which reflects so many of the sun’s positive characteristics, it is little surprise that people enjoy basking in the sunflower’s warming glow. With the sense of brightness and warmth that sunflowers naturally impart, they have become an ideal choice for sending sentiments of cheerfulness and sunny get well thoughts.

The sunflower is really a collection of 1,000 to 2,000 tiny flowers arranged in an intricate pattern that creates a reproductive opportunity for the plant. This fact represents “community as a whole”. Ray florets are flowers with long, straplike petals along the outside of the sunflower. Each petal on the outside of a sunflower is a flower. Disc florets are the flowers tightly clustered together inside the ray florets. The ray florets are unable to reproduce by themselves because they are missing one or more sex organs. The disc florets possess both male and female reproductive organs. This represents God as both male and female, and how we were created in the image of God with both male and female in each of us.

Perfect and Imperfect

Perfect flowers have male and female reproductive organs, which are the stamen and pistil, respectively. Imperfect flowers are missing one of those organs and, therefore, cannot pollinate themselves. Self-pollination is not necessary for a sunflower plant to reproduce, but it makes it simpler for the plant to accomplish fertilization by wind or insect. A sunflower relies on bees and other insects to help move pollen around its head to each flower. Butterflies and other insects often perch on an upturned sunflower head because its large, flat surface is inviting to insects searching for nectar.

Complete and Incomplete

Complete flowers have all four floral organs. The floral organs consist of sepals, which are small, green, leaflike structures at the base of petals; petals, which are the colorful part of the flower; female sex organs, including the ovary and ovule, which together are called the pistil; and the male sex organs, including the pollen-producing anthers, which together are called the stamen. If a flower is missing any of those parts, it is incomplete but still could be considered perfect. If, for example, a flower is missing sepals but has male and female reproductive organs, it would be a perfect flower; because not all four floral organs are present, however, the flower is also incomplete. Sunflower ray florets are missing both stamen and pistil, making them sterile. Sunflower disc florets are perfect flowers and create fruit when fertilized. That fruit is sunflower seed.