Sunflower
About the Sunflower
Young sunflowers track the sun across the sky (heliotropism) by growing more on the east side of the stem during the day. Mature sunflowers face east permanently to attract more pollinators. A single head can contain up to 2,000 individual flowers (florets). They are one of the fastest growing plants, reaching 3-4 meters in 6 months. Van Gogh painted his famous sunflower series in 1888-89. They can extract radioactive contamination from soil - planted after Chernobyl and Fukushima. Russia produces 25% of the worlds sunflower oil.
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