Helianthus
Temporal range: Eocene-recent[1] (Abre numa nova janela)
Common sunflower (Abre numa nova janela)Scientific classification (Abre numa nova janela)
Kingdom:Plantae (Abre numa nova janela)Clade:Tracheophytes (Abre numa nova janela)Clade:Angiosperms (Abre numa nova janela)Clade:Eudicots (Abre numa nova janela)Clade:Asterids (Abre numa nova janela)Order:Asterales (Abre numa nova janela)Family:Asteraceae (Abre numa nova janela)Subfamily:Asteroideae (Abre numa nova janela)Supertribe:Helianthodae (Abre numa nova janela)Tribe:Heliantheae (Abre numa nova janela)Genus:Helianthus
L. (Abre numa nova janela)[2] (Abre numa nova janela)Synonyms (Abre numa nova janela)[2] (Abre numa nova janela)
Harpalium (Cass.) Cass.
Helianthus (/ˌhiːliˈænθəs/ (Abre numa nova janela))[3] (Abre numa nova janela) is a genus (Abre numa nova janela) comprising about 70 species (Abre numa nova janela) of annual and perennial flowering plants (Abre numa nova janela) in the daisy family Asteraceae (Abre numa nova janela).[4] (Abre numa nova janela)[5] (Abre numa nova janela) Except for three South American (Abre numa nova janela) species, the species of Helianthus are native to North America (Abre numa nova janela) and Central America (Abre numa nova janela). The common names "sunflower" and "common sunflower" typically refer to the popular annual species Helianthus annuus (Abre numa nova janela), whose round flower heads in combination with the ligules (Abre numa nova janela) look like the sun.[6] (Abre numa nova janela)This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke (Abre numa nova janela) (H. tuberosus), are cultivated in temperate (Abre numa nova janela) regions and some tropical (Abre numa nova janela) regions as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants.[7] (Abre numa nova janela) The species H. annuus typically grows during the summer and into early fall, with the peak growth season being mid-summer.[8] (Abre numa nova janela)
Several perennial (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (Abre numa nova janela) species in 2014 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Abre numa nova janela) issued a final rule protecting it under the Endangered Species Act (Abre numa nova janela). The primary threats are industrial forestry (Abre numa nova janela) and pine (Abre numa nova janela) 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] (Abre numa nova janela)