SUNDEW Drosera rotundifolia, L.( Vishaya Schkolla, Moscow, 1963)
SUNFLOWER Helianthus annuus, L.( N. O.: Compasitae)
Common Name: Sunflower. Features: This plant belongs to a large composite genus, Helianthus, so called because its goldenrayed flowers are likened to the sun. Perhaps the Sunflower seeds’ nutritional richness is due to the flower’ s amazing ability to follow and face the sun from morning to night. Scientists call this ability heliatropic. The robust annuals( H. annuus) are never known in the wild state, they existed in cultivation in pre-Columbus America. The root system of the sunflower is quite extensive and goes down deep, so extracting many of the trace minerals not always present in top soil.
The leaves are numerous, rough, very large, and somewhat heart-shaped. The disc is very broad and brownish, and its tubular florets develop four-sided, very oily achenes( a small dry carpel containing a single seed, which does not burst when ripe). The yellow petals are daisy-like in pattern. The plant reaches 15 ft. in height and is often planted as a concealing border. The Sunflower is the state flower of Kansas in the United States, and a floral symbol of Peru in South America. Medicinal Part: The seed. Solvent: Boiling water Bodily Influence: Diuretic, Expectorant, Nourishing. Uses: Our Indians used the mineral-grasping root in combination with other roots for snake bites, and a warm decoction was used as a wash for rheumatism and inflammations. They boiled the flower heads to extract the oil and used it as a hair tonic. As a nourishing meal, the roasted shells or seeds were crushed and sifted; the same was also made into a hot beverage; the parched and crushed seed was used for bread meal. Herbalists use the plant in syrup or infusions for coughs, bronchitis, clergyman’ s sore throat, pulmonary difficulties, early stages of consumption and disease of the kidneys. Infusion of the pith stalk used as a wash will often act effectively in early stages of inflammatory sore eyes, the same being taken internally. Sunflower leaves have also been used for the treatment of malaria. The sun-drenched, deep-rooted Sunflower is known to contain the following( as quoted from the Alumni Research Foundation): Phosphorus: Essential for building bones, teeth, activating and regulating enzymes, proper fat and carbohydrate digestion, and is a vital building material for all body cells. Calcium: Our bodies need calcium for building strong bones, hard teeth, good muscle and tissue tone, well-being of nerves and proper clotting of blood. Iron: Found in good amount and while iron is most essential for the formation of healthy, red blood corpuscles, evidence also points to the necessity of copper being present even though in minute