Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is one of the few crop species that originated in North America (most originated in the fertile crescent, Asia or South or Central America). It was probably a camp follower of several of the Western Native American tribes who domesticated the crop (possibly 1000 BC) and then carried it eastward and southward of North America. The First Europeans observed sunflower cultivated in many places from southern Canada to Mexico. Sunflower ...