Sunflowers belong to which phylum of plants

Kingdom Plantae: photosynthetic, can conduct sexual reproduction with an alternation of generations between gametophyte and sporophyte. Phylum Tracheophyta : water conducting cells, called tracheids, to conduct water throughout the plant and that show spiral bands in walls. Class Magnoliopsida: a dicotelydon: vascular bundles in ring formation, veins on leaves branch, flowers come in multiples of 4 or 5.

Order Asterales: leaves alternate, the anthers are united into a tube, flowers are collected into heads surrounded by bracts, is filament free, no stipules. Also, when classifying there is a representative genus within the family, however there was no Composita genus in the Compositae, but there was an Aster, hence Asteraecae.

Genus Helianthus : ray flowers are pointed, brown or yellow centers, falling when seed matures, the lower leaves are opposite, stems are erect, heads usually radiate. Disc flowers are dark brown to purple. Involucral bracts are broadly ovate, with tips drawn out to a fine point.

The disc-shaped flowering head is borne terminally on the main stem, cm in diameter, sometimes drooping, and containing bisexual florets. Around the margin of the head there are individual ray flowers, which are sterile, brightly coloured, usually yellow, but varying from deep yellow to red. The brown or purplish disc florets are spirally arranged, flowering from the outer to the centre.

The ovary is inferior with a single basal ovule. Fruits are dry, indehiscent achenes, variable in colour white, brown, black, or often dark with white stripes. Seed is compressed, flattened oblong, the top truncated and base pointed, mm long, mm wide. The kernel weight varies from 50 g to many times this.

More than species of sunflowers grow in the wild, all from the New World and most of them in North America. Helianthus annuus , the common annual sunflower, is widespread in the USA and especially abundant west of the Mississippi River.

Wild sunflower seeds were an important source of food for Indians living in prehistoric times. At least one group of Indians in the Midwest of USA started to cultivate sunflowers more than years ago, the practice spreading to other Native Americans living in the Southwest and in Mexico. The sunflower has the distinction of being the only important crop plant to have been domesticated in the USA.

The distribution in this summary table is based on all the information available. When several references are cited, they may give conflicting information on the status. Further details may be available for individual references in the Distribution Table Details section which can be selected by going to Generate Report. Sunflower is unsuitable for humid climates.

New cultivars are adapted to a wide range of environments. A frost-free period of days is usually necessary for commercial crops. Good yields can be obtained with mm of rainfall or irrigation water. The plants are quite drought-resistant, except during the flowering period. Sunflowers grow well in any well-drained, neutral to slightly alkaline sandy soil. Seed should normally be planted cm deep, depending on cultivar.

Seed rate, spacing and number of plants per hectare vary widely, depending among other things on seed size: for example, the number of plants per hectare varies from 28, to 75, To obtain high seed yields, application of fertilizer is necessary. It was found that kg seed removed 60 kg N, 10 kg P and kg K. Sunflower seedlings are poor competitors to weeds, and young plants are easily damaged by mechanical weed control.

Moreover, the period of effective machinery use is limited. Several herbicides are registered for use with sunflower. The growth cycle is usually about 4 months, but ranges from 60 to days depending on the environment and genotype. Sunflower oil has become the world's second most important vegetable oil and is used for cooking and to make margarine, salad dressing, lubricants, paints and soaps.

Sunflower oil is considered a premium oil due to its light colour, low level of saturated fats, mild flavour, good taste and ability to be used at high cooking temperatures. Sunflower oil is mainly used for food purposes. Inferior grades of oil are used for the production of paint, varnish and soap. Sunflower is sometimes grown as a silage crop as feed for livestock, when the crop has to be harvested when half of the flowering head of the plant has mature seeds.

As well as extraction of edible oil, seeds can be eaten raw or as salted or toasted snacks, and ground into a meal for using in bread and cakes, or they can be used as birdseed.

Sunflowers are also used as an industrial raw material oil, cellulose , or for poultry and animal feeds seeds, pressing residues, green material. Native Americans used sunflower plants for treating a variety of ailments. Dakota Indians made a broth of sunflower heads for a drink to relieve chest pains.

Pueblo Indians of the Southwest USA used plant parts to cure rattlesnake and spider bites as well as for healing cuts and other wounds. More recent folk and herbal medicine uses include the control of pain, inflammation, coughs and a host of other remedies. Hopi Indians in the USA still grow a particular variety of single-headed sunflower that is tall, slender with dark leaves, and has a thin, dark purple seed that requires a longer growing season to mature than other local varieties.

This sunflower is prized for the brilliant blue, purple, black or red dye that is made from the hulls and used to dye wool, cotton and baskets, as well as for making ceremonial body paint. Elzebroek, T. Guide to cultivated plants, CABI. Witt, A. Guide to the naturalized and invasive plants of Eastern Africa, [ed.

Host plants distribution and overwintering of cotton mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis; Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae. International Journal of Agriculture and Biology. Abkhoo J, Powdery mildews causing fungi in Iran. Downy mildew Plasmopara halstedii : importance and geographical distribution on sunflower in Morocco. Phytopathologia Mediterranea. On a collection of mites infesting herbs used as spices and oil seeds in India with special reference to Western Ghat Areas. Records of the Zoological Survey of India.

Helianthus annuus as a natural host for Stemphylium vesicarium in Iran. Australasian Plant Disease Notes. First report on the occurrence of a new pathotype, , of Plasmopara halstedii sunflower downy mildew in Hungary. Plant Disease. First report on the occurrence of a globally new pathotype, , of Plasmopara halstedii causing sunflower downy mildew in Hungary. First report on the increased distribution of pathotype of Plasmopara halstedii in Hungary. First report of bacterial stalk and head rot disease caused by Pectobacterium atrosepticum on sunflower in Turkey.

New record of host plants of invasive mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley Tinsley, , Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae in Alexandria and Behaira governorates. Journal of Entomology. Serological and coat protein sequence studies suggest that necrosis disease on sunflower in India is caused by a strain of Tobacco streak ilarvirus.

Archives of Virology. Occurrence and distribution of sunflower necrosis virus disease in major sunflower growing areas of Andhra Pradsh. The introduction of the exotic Q biotype of Bemisia tabaci from the Mediterranean region into China on ornamental crops. Florida Entomologist. The ecology of Helicoverpa spp. Lepidoptera: Noctuidae in the Riverina region of south-eastern Australia and the implications for tactical and strategic management.

Bulletin of Entomological Research. Carpogenic germination of Sclerotinia minor and potential distribution in Australia. Australasian Plant Pathology. FAO, General distribution of different arthropods species associated with sunflower in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: a survey of Peshawar, Mardan and Swabi District:.

Pure and Applied Biology. First report of anthracnose of sunflower sprouts caused by Colletotrichum acutatum in New Mexico. Occurrence, distribution and control of papaya mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae , an invasive alien pest in Sri Lanka. Tropical Agricultural Research and Extension. First report of the highly virulent race of Plasmopara halstedii downy mildew of sunflower in Portugal and in Spain. A new race of Verticillium dahliae causing leaf mottle of sunflower in Europe.

Surveys in the chrysanthemum production areas of Brazil and Colombia reveal that weeds are potential reservoirs of chrysanthemum stunt viroid. First report of charcoal rot Macrophomina phaseolina on sunflower in North and South Dakota.

First report of Orobanche ludoviciana parasitizing sunflowers. Plant Health Progress. First report on the occurrence of Tobacco streak virus in sunflower in Iran. Journal of Plant Pathology. First report of Serratia marcescens causing yellow wilt disease on sunflower in Russia.

New Disease Reports. New record of spider mite, Tetranychus ludeni Zacher Acari: Tetranychidae on sunflower and reaction of few CMS lines to mite infestation.

Insect Environment. Ecological Threat H. It is also considered a weed in many agricultural areas. It is grown commercially for the seeds and the oil extracted from them, both for human consumption and as a wildlife food.

Coconut oil comes first. They are high in polyunsaturated fat and contain no cholesterol. The seeds are a good source of protein, starch and calories. Selected Images. Class: Magnoliopsida.