The sunflower, original only to the Americas, has become one of the most important plants throughout the world due to its adaptability, diversity, and sustainability. It is a key component in cooking, human health, soil detoxification, and has been use in medicine, art and poetry.
The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant that has been long beloved as for its atheistic aspects and its value as a food crop. Sunflowers are native to North America and were used as a source of food by native peoples for years before European settlers came. Even though historic use of sunflowers included ornamental and ceremonial use as well as for food, the most prominent example utilization of the sunflower is for vegetable oil.
Since the plant’s domestication the sunflower has been one of the most important crops in production that is native to North America, comparable to maize and wheat. The sunflower, what was once a plant utilized only in the Americas is now one of the most widely and diversely recognized used plant species in the world.
The sunflower got its name from its flower, which resembles the sun. The large flower is actually a mature flower head, composed a bunch of tiny flowers clumped together (Duncan 1975). The sunflower is an annual, erect, broadleaf plant. It has a tough, strong stem and rough simple leaves. The leaves on the immature buds are phototropic and follow the sun’s rays, one of the properties that increase light interception. The sunflower is not prone to many diseases, which make it appealing to producers (Duncan 1975). The plant grows rapidly and very large in the right location. They thrive in northern areas. One of the beneficial properties is the plants ability for phtytoremediation. It’s able to r...
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...ing. One may also experience gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain. Some people may develop an anaphylactic shock due to ingestion of sunflower seeds or inhalation of sunflower seed dust.
Sunflower oil is largely omega 6 polyunsaturates, so if you use sunflower oil regularly, you need to be sure you're getting enough omega 3s in your diet from other sources to balance it out. Re-using the oil more than a few times for deep-frying could cause the formation of harmful trans fats. There is nothing redeemable about trans fats.
The Sunflower is one of the most widely known, widely recognized, and widely used plants in the world. It is used as food, as art, as a soil detoxification, and it creates jobs and sustains lives. As such it is easily one of our most valuable plants, and it impact our lives world-wide every day.
The first to use native dye plants in the United States were the Native Americans. Their culture was totally dependent on what the land produced. This is reflected in the wealth of information Native Americans possessed about useful plants, from medicinal to ceremonial and dye plants. This is reflected in the types of houses they built and the names of places (often after the plants that grew there). Early European colonists foolishly ignored the wisdom of the Native Americans and modern Americans are not much wiser. Americans need to learn about the plants and animals in our own country and how they can be useful to mankind. Instead of bringing non-adapted species of Europe to North America we need to learn what native adapted species can fulfill our needs and wants (Gilmore 1977). For example, we spend thousands of dollars feeding, sheltering, and caring for European cattle when we have native bovines, bison which are naturally adapted to the climate and environment. Melvin Randolph Gilmore sums this idea up well in the following quote:
...s as an escape from the world the white man created. The impact this plant has had on civilization is that it is only way out for some, it is their vehicle of escape to drive them out of the material world and down the peyote road.
In the first third of the book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, he draws the reader in by bringing to light many interesting facts about corn that most individuals may not realize. He states that the majority of food that people consume contains corn. Although people of Mexican descent are usually referred to as the “corn people”, Americans have now surpassed them in the amount of corn consumed in their daily diet. Corn is consumed in a variety of forms and many of the animals that are eaten by Americans, such as the chicken, pig, turkey, and lamb are fed corn. When a person eats these animals, he or she is essentially increasing their corn intake, and in most cases without even realizing it. The corn crop has spread vastly and is massively produced because it is efficient. Unlike other crop plants, corn can survive in harsh weather conditions and it is light and easy to transport. Maize is also self-fertilized and pollinated by wind, and it has evolved over time and continues to evolve, into new forms and new uses.
In conclusion, corn has come a long way since its first domestication. It began as a prized possession to the Natives as they worshipped corn goddesses and had steady rituals allowing them to receive the corn and give thanks for the corn. The views for the United States seem to be produce as much as possible – and profit from it. China and Hungary aim to produce corn as well but limit themselves to unmodified corn. Although all the groups previously mentioned have/had their own way of viewing corn, one thing is for certain: corn is a popular plant and is presently essential to our lives.
diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than 12,500 of an estimated total of
Corn helps the cows, chicken, and other animals grow faster and produce more milk, etc. as well. Instead of animals being out free in their natural environment, they are more indoors tethered to machines, eating corn. 2) All life is based on nitrogen. It forms the building blocks of organic materials and genetic information. But most of the earth's 80% nitrogen is unusable, unless it is “fixed” by combining it with hydrogen atoms. In 1909, Fritz Haber figured out how to make synthetic, usable nitrogen, which geographer Vaclav Smil calls the most important invention of the twentieth century. Without it, the human population would eventually have starved. Creating so much extra nitrogen has disrupted the natural cycle of nitrogen production. The nitrogen that isn't used by the corn evaporates into the atmosphere, which creates acid rain and speeds up global warming. The excess runoff of nitrogen-rich water makes the algae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico,
Aztecs are most famous for maize. It can be stored for long periods of time, which makes it valuable as a future safety net, and it can be used in many forms, which we still utilize today.
Thank you Mr. Wiesenthal for letting me be able to read and respond to your book The Sunflower. The Sunflower has showed me how ruthless it was for Jewish people in the Holocaust. In your book Karl, an SS solider, tries to get your forgiveness for the wrong he has done to the Jewish population. For a person to ask for forgiveness means that they have realized that they have done wrong and want to repent for their mistakes. The big question in your book was “What would you do?” I would’ve done exactly what you did I wouldn’t have granted the solider my forgiveness because he didn’t deserve it.
Weeds are known to be a bad sign for farmers and gardeners alike. Weeds take all the nutrients from the intended crop and prevent the plant intended to grow from growing. This is a highly tedious and expensive task. For some mass produced crops such as corn, it is not cost-effective to remove weeds by physical means, so farmers will often spray large amounts of herbicides to kill weeds, which also is time-consuming and expensive. Sometime the herbicide is so strong that is ends up killing the plant as well. C...
Our Sun continuously converts hydrogen into helium and with this process it provides the essentials for life processes. In doing this it controls “our climate, provides light, raises tides, and drives the food chain” (Schaefer 34). Our Sun also has influenced many beliefs now and in the past. History has documented Sun worshipping religions while many current societies use solar calendars (Schaefer 34).
The “Fast Plant” experiment is an observation of a plants growth over the span of twenty-eight days. The objective is to observe how plants grow and use their resources throughout the span of their life. In our lab we observed the Brassica rapa, a herbaceous plant in the mustard family which has a short cycle which makes it a perfect plant to observe in this experiment. Like other plants the Brassica rapa must use the resources in the environment to create energy to complete itʻs life cycle and reproduce. By observing the plant it is easy to see in what organ or function the plant is using itʻs energy and resources and if overtime the resources switch to other part of the plants. By conducting this experiment we are able to observe where and how plants allocate their resources throughout their life by harvesting plants at different points in their life.
Is corn the future of the world? Will our human race develop an immunity and need for corn? Nations across the world are turning to cheaper, unhealthy ideas using subsidies such as corn. Since corn is cheap and useful to the agricultural businesses, our world has lost respect for one’s health. Monocropping corn is a growing problem creating health issues and destroying our fragile ecosystems; therefore, the only solution is change.
Throughout the history of the human race there have been a great number of crops that were discovered, planted, and over time domesticated. Wheat in the Middle East, rice in Asia, and rye in Eastern Europe are all some of today’s staple crops that feed millions every day. Crops like these make up over 50% of the world’s total food supply. However, the third most eaten crop in the world is maize, or corn, which provides 21% of human nutrition. Today maize feeds millions across the world, but its history is different from the others.
The sun is a star that is medium sized among the star categories. Solar system is pivoted around the sun. The sun is a primary source of light and heat for earth which is responsible for keeping the temperature of earth in a reasonable range that is sustaining life.
Humans depend on plants in numerous ways. One reason we depend on plants is for consumption. Plants have the unique ability of producing their own food through a process called photosynthesis. In this process, plants are able to produce macromolecules such as carbohydrates that cannot be produced in animals or humans. In humans, the only to gain these macromolecules is to consume plant matter, or consume plant-eating animals (herbivores).