Sunflowers

Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are an annual plant native to the Americas that possess a large inflorescence (flowering head). The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads of flowers. The heads consist of 1,000-2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base. From the Americas, sunflower seeds were brought to Europe in the 16th century, where, along with sunflower oil, they became a widespread cooking ingredient. Sunflower leaves can be used as cattle feed, while the stems contain a fibre which may be used in paper production.

Quotes

 * Light-enchanted sunflower, thou Who gazest ever true and tender On the sun's revolving splendour.
 * Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Magico Prodigioso (1637), scene 3. Shelley's translation.


 * Restless sunflower; cease to move.
 * Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Magico Prodigioso (1637), scene 3. Shelley's translation.


 * But one, the lofty follower of the Sun, Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves Drooping all night; and, when he warm returns, Points her enamoured bosom to his ray.
 * James Thomson, The Seasons, Summer (1727), line 216.

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

 * Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 768-69.


 * Ah, Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime, Where the traveller's journey is done; Where the youth pined away with desire, And the pale virgin shrouded in snow, Arise from their graves, and aspire Where my Sunflower wishes to go!
 * William Blake, The Sunflower.


 * The Sunflow'r, thinking 'twas for him foul shame To nap by daylight, strove t' excuse the blame; It was not sleep that made him nod, he said, But too great weight and largeness of his head.
 * Abraham Cowley, Of Plants, Book IV. Of Flowers. The Poppy, line 102.


 * With zealous step he climbs the upland lawn, And bows in homage to the rising dawn; Imbibes with eagle eye the golden ray, And watches, as it moves, the orb of day.
 * Erasmus Darwin, Loves of the Plants, Canto I, line 225.


 * Space for the sunflower, bright with yellow glow, To court the sky.
 * Caroline Gilman, To the Ursulines.


 * Eagle of flowers! I see thee stand, And on the sun's noon-glory gaze; With eye like his, thy lids expand,  And fringe their disk with golden rays: Though fix'd on earth, in darkness rooted there, Light is thy element, thy dwelling air,  Thy prospect heaven.
 * James Montgomery, The Sunflower.


 * As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets, The same look which she turn'd when he rose.
 * Thomas Moore, Believe Me, if all Those Endearing Young Charms.