The Sunflower
by Robert Bales
Title
The Sunflower
Artist
Robert Bales
Medium
Photograph - Photo
Description
This one is my winter sunflower grown in Yuma, Arizona. It is about 9 feet tall and I am sure the birds well love it when I head back to Idaho in 3 weeks.
The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence (flowering head), and its name is derived from the flower's shape and image, which is often used to capture the sun. The plant has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves, and circular flower heads. The heads consist of many individual flowers which mature into seeds, often in the hundreds, on 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. Leaves of the sunflower can be used as cattle feed, while the stems contain a fibre which may be used in paper production.
What is usually called the "flower" on a mature sunflower is actually a "flower head" (also known as a "composite flower") of numerous florets (small flowers) crowded together. The outer petal-bearing florets (ray florets) are sterile and can be yellow, red, orange, or other colors. The florets inside the circular head are called disc florets, which mature into seeds
The flower petals within the sunflower's cluster are always in a spiral pattern. Generally, each floret is oriented toward the next by approximately the golden angle, 137.5�, producing a pattern of interconnecting spirals, where the number of left spirals and the number of right spirals are successive Fibonacci numbers. Typically, there are 34 spirals in one direction and 55 in the other; on a very large sunflower there could be 89 in one direction and 144 in the other. This pattern produces the most efficient packing of seeds within the flower head.
Uploaded
March 4th, 2014
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Comments (52)
Linda Phelps
F/L Absolutely outstanding sunflower. It is a perfectly processed image with great clarity, detail and awesome color! It has a dramatic impact! The composition with the flower filling the frame is delightful.
Connie Handscomb
Colours that can't help but bring Smiles! a delightful, happy, vibrant image ... wonderful clarity :)))
Emmy Vickers
Robert - this is absolutely exquisite and a PERFECT work of art!! The detailed description - wow, thanks for taking the time to write that up. Very interesting. So, this is a flower you grew in your yard. The vivid colors and up-close shot is out-of-this-world! Love the bright blue background - great contrast. This just brightened my morning. Superb detail. Again, this is PERFECTION! I wish you many sales! I have definitely added this to my favorites and I just tweeted. Well done! L/Fave/Tweeted.
Robert Bales replied:
Thanks so much Emmy for the great comments and the LFTw!! It is about 8 feet tall and I did plant it in Dec. from a seed. I am taking the seeds back to Idaho and plant some for the summer.
Joel E Blyler
Beautiful sunflower capture, Robert! Congrats on your feature in The Gold Standard! L/F