Name: The botanical name is Helianthus. The Greek word "helios" means sun and "anthos" means flower. It is aptly named after the sun which it resembles.

Origin: South and West of the USA.

Color: Most sunflowers are bright yellow with dark brown centres, but varieties are appearing now which have tan, orange, maroon or striped petals, and green-yellow centres. Some are even without the central disc, but are fully covered in petals instead.

Availability: A summer flower, but some are available all year round ('Orit') and most can be available from late spring to late autumn.

Varieties: There are now so many varieties owing to its popularity and sunflower is one of the top ten best selling cut flowers in UK. 'Snittgold' cultivar, which is the classic sunflower, has more than 15 different varieties from the small-flowered 'Sonja' to the large-flowered 'Orit'. 'Sunrich Orange' has the darkest yellow of all the sunflower varieties. Other bi colours such as 'Prado Red' and 'Floristan' have reddish brown petals with yellow bordering.

Care Tips: They need a lot of water.

Language of Flowers: The dwarf sunflower means "adulation".

Medicinal: The sunflower is grown for the seeds and oil it produces.Each mature flower yields 40% of its weight as oil.