Wild Sunflower Seeds

This is the true grandfather species of them all—the basic annual sunflower that figured so prominently in Native American ritual, fabric making, and foods. Flowers are only about 3-4 inches across, rather like a large, single black-eyed susan on rangy, 3-foot, sandpapery plants. Do not confuse this one with its hundreds of descendants including the garden giants with huge, seed filled centers—they’re all hybrids of this species. State flower of Kansas.