For the past several weeks, I’ve enjoyed the sunflower plantings on my route to work each day. Last week I decided to stop and capture these wonderful flowers in their morning glory. This post, and the next, feature several different visual approaches along with some very interesting tidbits about the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus).
Each plant will typically bear one or more large, wide flower heads (capitula). The flower head is actually a compound flower. The outside consist of bright yellow ray florets, while the inside disc contains yellow orange disc florets. In the photo above and below, you can see at the center, the zone of unopened disc floret buds. Just outside the unopened zone, you can see the next zone of new disc florets in their male pollen phase. Here is where the bumble bees are most active. After a few days, the disc florets enter their female phase. They extend in the third zone out to the edges of the flower disk.
When the flower blooms, all the disc florets are unopened, tiny buds. The disc florets first open in their male phase on the outside of the disc. Over several days, the male phase disc florets seem to move as a wave towards the disc center. During the growing period, sunflowers will tilt during the day to track the sun. As the flower begins to bloom, this tracking will stop. Once the flower matures, they will generally face the east. I was amazed when I read about this. My route to work runs from east to west; so I really noticed these east facing flowers in the morning as I traveled west.
One of the most fascinating features of the sunflower is the method in which the disc head uses to disperse disc florets. From the center of the disc, a mathematically brilliant spiral technique packs the maximum number of disc floret buds across the surface area of the disc head. This spiral is known as the Fibonacci Spiral, which in turn is based on the Fibonacci Sequence. I wrote about this in my An Elegant, Intelligent Design post. Perhaps I’ll discuss it in more detail in the second part of this post.
This series was shot with my Nikon 28mm – 300mm lens, using manual focus. Several times, I had to slightly lean back when I reached the minimum close up focus point. Perhaps I’ll try renting a macro lens in the future. I appreciate you stopping by today. For the best viewing experience, click on an image to see a high resolution version.
Cheers,
C. S.
