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Imagine loving a flower so much that you wear it everywhere you go to show people where you're from. Now imagine your state government declaring that same flower a weed. That's exactly what happened in Kansas. In 1895, Kansas lawmakers classified sunflowers as a noxious weed. Just eight years later, in 1903, the sunflower became the official state flower. What changed? Well, the people of Kansas had already made up their minds. And there's another surprise hiding inside this familiar yellow flower. A sunflower isn't actually just one flower. It's hundreds of tiny flowers growing together.
This short video shares how Kansas went from treating sunflowers as weeds to celebrating them as its state flower, and why that familiar yellow blossom is actually made up of hundreds of tiny flowers.
Common Sunflower
Common Sunflower
Helianthus annuus
The sunflower is one of the most recognizable flowers in North America.
With its bright yellow petals, large central disk, and tall stalk, it's hard to miss one standing in a field.
But there's something fascinating about the sunflower that you might not realize.
What looks like one enormous flower is actually a collection of many tiny flowers.
The yellow petals around the outside are called ray florets, while the center is packed with tiny disk florets. Each disk floret can develop into a seed-bearing fruit after pollination.
And those tiny flowers are arranged in beautiful intersecting spirals that often follow Fibonacci number patterns.
A few more things that make sunflowers special:
Native to North America, including the Great Plains
Cultivated by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years
Provide seeds used for food and oil
Support bees, butterflies, birds, and other wildlife
Wild common sunflowers can grow several feet tall, sometimes much taller
Young sunflower buds also exhibit heliotropism, turning to follow the sun during the day. As the flowers mature, they typically stop turning and face east.
It's a pretty remarkable plant.
And Kansas has plenty of them.
Why It Became the State Flower
The story of Kansas's sunflower begins long before it became an official state symbol.
Sunflowers grew naturally across the Great Plains, and Indigenous peoples had cultivated them for thousands of years.
By the late 1800s, they had become closely associated with the Kansas landscape.
In 1880, a journalist proposed making the sunflower the state's official flower.
Nothing official came of the suggestion.
But the people of Kansas had other ideas.
When Kansans traveled outside the state, they began wearing sunflowers as a way to show where they were from.
They wore them like boutonnieres at gatherings and events.
The sunflower had become a symbol of Kansas pride without needing anyone's permission.
Then came a rather ironic twist.
In 1895, Kansas passed legislation classifying the sunflower as a noxious weed. For farmers trying to grow crops, wild sunflowers could be troublesome plants that spread through their fields.
But to Kansans traveling beyond their state borders, the sunflower represented home.
By 1903, lawmakers recognized what the people had already decided.
State Senator George P. Morehouse championed the sunflower's official designation, arguing that Kansans had effectively chosen it themselves.
And that year, Kansas officially adopted the native wild sunflower as its state flower.
The flower that had been treated as a weed became one of the state's most recognizable symbols.
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