ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Sunflower. Cultivated primarily for the seeds which yield the world's second most important source of edible oil. Sunflower oil is used for cooking, margarine, salad dressings, lubrication, soaps, and illumination. A semi-drying oil, it is used with linseed and other drying oils in paints and varnishes. Decorticated press-cake is used as a high protein food for livestock. Medicinally, seeds are diuretic, expectorant, and used for colds, coughs, throat, and lung ailments. According to Hartwell, the flowers and seeds are used in folk remedies for cancer in Venezuela, often incorporated in white wine. Sunflowers are grown from the Equator to 55°N Lat. In the tropics, they grow better at medium to high elevations, but tolerate the drier lowlands. Sunflower production may be adapted to mechanized or unmechanized societies.
