Sunflower Leaves
What Are Sunflower Leaves Good For?
Sunflower leaves are obviously good for the plant itself, but as far as humans are concerned, their use appears to be somewhat limited. In an age where every other leaf, seed, fruit, or blossom seems to have miraculous healing or life giving powers, one could hardly be surprised if one were to come across an advertisement extolling the benefits of extracts or supplements based on sunflower leaves. This mercifully is not the case.
The benefits of sunflower seeds are well known of course, whether eating them at home or spitting out the husks in a baseball dugout. We do know that the stalks and leaves make excellent fodder for livestock, and that's what happens to many sunflower plants grown in the Great Plains area, once the seeds have been harvested. As far as human consumption is concerned, the leaves are generally considered to be edible, though by most accounts not particularly tasteful. They do not appear to taste bad (when cooked, like spinach), but are at best rather bland tasting. Of course, one should take into account the many different species of sunflowers in existence. The leaves of the wild varieties we often see around the roadways may be much more palatable than those on the Mammoth Russian varieties towering in many home gardens, or found in fields of North Dakota or Minnesota.
We did mention however that sunflower leaves make excellent fodder. Because of their high moisture content, the leaves and stalks need to be allowed to dry before stacking for use as fodder. Sunflowers are sometimes grown as a second crop, to be plowed under as silage, sometimes in place of corn or alfalfa hay, when seasonal conditions make sunflowers a better choice.
As fodder, sunflower leaves and stalks rank favorably with corn, alfalfa and Timothy hay, only alfalfa has more crude protein, and the sunflower tops the list as far as crude fiber is concerned. The sunflower also contains more fat than do the other forages. The sunflower is considered to be an adequate food for cattle other than milk producing dairy cattle.
A Plant That Tells Time - Almost - One interesting feature of sunflower leaves is they are phototropic, meaning they will face and follow the sun's rays as it travels from horizon to horizon. The buds of the sunflower blossoms also have this feature, though the flowers themselves do not, and face in one direction once in full bloom. The leaves by the way, don't face the sun directly, but in responding to the suns rays lag somewhat behind the actual position of the sun. Sunflower leaves are therefore little sundials, though typically would be an hour or two behind.
Fibonacci And The Sunflower - For math majors, there is an interesting characteristic of the sunflower, though the blossoms and not the sunflower leaves are of interest here. The individual flowers, or florets, making up the blossom as a whole, follow a distinct pattern. This pattern, found in many other plants as well, including the artichoke, is called the Fibonacci sequence. If you start in the center, you will find one floret in the middle, two on either side, then three, then five, then eight and so on. The number of florets in each circle equals the sum of the number of florets in the two preceding circles. This would be easiest to verify with a Mammoth sunflower, than with one of the tinier roadside varieties.
Sunflower leaves may have their own peculiar mathematical properties, and it may be that someone simply hasn't taken the time to look for them yet. We may have to be content with the fact that sunflower leaves, while edible, aren't in great demand as human food, but are quite valuable as compost, fodder, and silage.