Helianthus
Temporal range: Eocene-recent[1] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Common sunflower (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Scientific classification (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Kingdom:Plantae (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Clade:Tracheophytes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Clade:Angiosperms (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Clade:Eudicots (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Clade:Asterids (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Order:Asterales (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Family:Asteraceae (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Subfamily:Asteroideae (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Supertribe:Helianthodae (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Tribe:Heliantheae (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Genus:Helianthus
L. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[2] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)Synonyms (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[2] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Harpalium (Cass.) Cass.
Helianthus (/ˌhiːliˈænθəs/ (Öffnet in neuem Fenster))[3] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is a genus (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) comprising about 70 species (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) of annual and perennial flowering plants (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in the daisy family Asteraceae (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).[4] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[5] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Except for three South American (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) species, the species of Helianthus are native to North America (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Central America (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). The common names "sunflower" and "common sunflower" typically refer to the popular annual species Helianthus annuus (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), whose round flower heads in combination with the ligules (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) look like the sun.[6] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (H. tuberosus), are cultivated in temperate (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) regions and some tropical (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) regions as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants.[7] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) The species H. annuus typically grows during the summer and into early fall, with the peak growth season being mid-summer.[8] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Several perennial (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Helianthus species are grown in gardens, but have a tendency to spread rapidly and can become aggressive. The whorled sunflower, Helianthus verticillatus, was listed as an endangered (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) species in 2014 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) issued a final rule protecting it under the Endangered Species Act (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). The primary threats are industrial forestry (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and pine (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) plantations in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. They grow to 1.8 m (6 ft) and are primarily found in woodlands, adjacent to creeks and moist, prairie-like areas.[9] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)