“One season following another, laden with happiness and tears
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers, blossoming even as we gaze"
These lyrics from Fiddler on the Roof have taken on a new meaning this year as sunflowers — the national symbol of Ukraine — almost overnight came to represent global unity and hope.
But sunflowers are not native to Ukraine. Conquistadors “discovered” sunflowers in Mexico, where the Aztec people grew them for food and fiber. These “explorers” returned to Spain with pillaged gold and the seeds of golden flowers. In Europe, sunflowers became popular.
So in the 1700s, when the Tsar Peter the Great visited Holland, he was introduced to sunflowers. He took them home to Russia where most people were Russian Orthodox, which meant during Lent, they were prohibited from using butter or cooking oils. But apparently there was no ban of sunflower oil.
Fast forward to last year, when sunflowers were a key component of the Ukrainian economy. Ukraine and Russia's contributions made up 70 - 80 percent of global sunflower oil exports.
But we grow them in the United States, too. Commercially grown sunflowers have been bred to be wind pollinated, but having native bees, or even domestic honeybees, in the fields greatly increases the yield.
The suddenly popular sunflower paintings of Georgia O’Keefe illustrate why. The huge disk of a sunflower is actually made up numerous tiny flowers called florets. The outer yellow ray flowers open first. The small central florets, which are filled with copious amounts of nectar, are popular with pollinators. Every pollinated floret develops into a sunflower seed.
But the florets don’t open all at once. Starting from the outside, the florets open a few at a time. In real flowers, or in paintings, you can observe the pollen on rings of blooming florets. Pollinators visit the open florets. Each day, a few more florets open and pollinators systematically work their way around the spiral.
Wind pollination is pretty random. If pollen happens to fall on a floret, a seed develops. When insects visit daily, they collect nectar from every single open floret. Consequently, each one is pollinated. So as summer turns into fall, bee-pollinated plants produce more seeds. And next spring, the whole process will start again.
“One season following another, laden with happiness and tears.”
