SUN SEEKERS: SUNFLOWERS AREN'T JUST A PRETTY PICTURE

David Joe Wessel weaved his way through tall sunflowers on his farm south of Gordonville.

Many of his sunflowers have already produced their share of seed and have started turning brown.

But a number of the showy yellow flowers are still growing, their heads turned toward the sun.

Sunflowers are so named because their heads follow the sun throughout the day.

Standing tall in a field near rows of corn, the sunflowers are a pretty sight.

Wessel grows about 10 acres of sunflowers. He does so mainly for dove hunting. The birds are attracted to sunflower seeds.

Thousands of doves regularly visit his fields in September.

Last year, the birds were early, arriving in August.

Wessel first planted sunflowers about 15 years ago.

He has been growing sunflowers and harvesting the seeds annually for the past six to 10 years, he said.

He sells the seeds to Shawneetown Feed and Seed, which retails the seeds for bird food.

Even after harvesting the seeds, there are still plenty of seeds left in the fields to attract doves, Wessel said.

Sunflowers aren't a major crop for area farmers. "There is no market for it," said Wessel. "We try to break even on the cost."

Still, Wessel and his family admit they are a pretty sight.

"We enjoy them," said Wessel's wife, Linda.

A sunflower head may measure more than a foot in diameter and produce up to 1,000 seeds.

Some varieties of sunflowers have large striped seeds, which are roasted for snack food.

Wessel's sunflowers aren't of the snack-food variety.

Sunflowers are hearty plants that thrive almost anywhere. "They will take dry weather better than anything," said Wessel.

That's not bad for a prairie weed that has grown to become one of the world's leading oil-seed crops, second only to soybeans.

Worldwide more than 5 million metric tons of sunflower seeds are grown each year.

The former Soviet Union produces more sunflower seeds than any other nation. In fact, it is the national flower of Russia.

Early American Indians made full use of sunflowers. They ate the seed, ground the small kernels into flour, extracted oil from seed for their hair, and used the seeds, flower petals and pollen to make dyes for face paint, cloths and baskets.

The Aztecs in Peru worshiped sunflowers, erecting sunflower images of gold in their temples and crowning princesses in the bright yellow flowers.

The Missouri Conservation Department grows sunflowers on its land throughout the state for dove hunting.

Most of the state's sunflower patches range from five to 20 acres.

"They can take quite a bit of different weather patterns," said Larry Heggemann, a Conservation Department wildlife biologist. "This year has been pretty good for them."

About the only place you can't grow sunflowers is in the shade.

Sunflowers attract more than doves. A number of birds, including goldfinches, are fond of the seeds.

Some sunflowers regularly grow as tall as 12 feet.

The gray striped sunflower typically grows to a height of 8 feet in Heggemann's garden south of Cape Girardeau.

"I grow them for the birds," said Heggemann.

At the end of the growing season, he takes off the sunflower heads and stores them for winter.

During the winter months, he puts the sunflower heads outside for the birds to pick out the seeds.

"I let the birds do all the work," he said.

ABOUT SUNFLOWERS

Sunflowers date back to ancient times. Carbon dating of seeds found in North American clay date back nearly 3,000 years.

The sunflower is so named because it often follows the sun.

Early American natives ate the seeds, ground the small kernels into flour, extracted oil from seeds for their hair, and used the seeds, flower petals and poollen to make dyes for face paint, cloths and baskets.

In Peru, the Aztecs worshiped sunflowers.

Sunflowers were transported to Europe in the 1500s as gifts carried by Spanish settlers returning home.

The Russian ruler Peter the Great likes sunflowers so much when he saw them in Holland that he took seeds back to Russia.

By the 1700s, sunflower seeds were being eaten all over Russia.

The sunflower is the national flower of Russia.

It is second only to soybeans as the leading oil seed crop.

Worldwide, more than 5 million metric tons of sunflower seeds are grown each year.

The tallest sunflower on record stood 25 feet tall. It was grown in The Netherlands.

The largest sunflower head on record measured 32 1/2 inches across at its widest point. It was grown in Canada.

The shortest mature sunflower on record was just over 2 inches tall and was grown in Oregon using the Bonsai technique.

Source: The Sunflower Stop internet site.