It is no wonder that bees are symbols of industry. Countless numbers of them were working the field I've been showing recently. I was puzzled by their activity, though, since I could not distinguish the pistils and stamens I remember from high school biology class.
It turns out that I don't know much about sunflowers other than their association with Mrs. C's home state of Kansas. They are complex. The points of those whorls (arranged in a Fibonacci pattern) are individual mini-flowers that will eventually become heavy with the seeds some people love to munch. They are heliotropes. In their early and middle stages the heads move from east to west in unison to follow the sun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helianthus_annuus . Some of the many things that city kids don't learn.
Fascinating and pretty!
ReplyDelete