Awakening Giant is a photograph by Bruce Bley which was uploaded on August 1st, 2013.
Awakening Giant
This photograph was taken on a morning walk through my community. I enjoy taking macro photographs illustrating the detail of the subject I am... more
by Bruce Bley
Title
Awakening Giant
Artist
Bruce Bley
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
This photograph was taken on a morning walk through my community. I enjoy taking macro photographs illustrating the detail of the subject I am photographing. I hope you have enjoyed this photograph and will share it with others. You can see more of my work on my homepage in the various galleries I have created. Thank you for visiting and please come back.
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 depict 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 fiber 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.[5][6][7] This pattern produces the most efficient packing of seeds within the flower head.[8][9][10]
Sunflowers commonly grow to heights between 1.5 and 3.5 m (5�12 ft.). The tallest sunflower confirmed by Guinness World Records is 8.0 m (2009, Germany). In 16th-century Europe the record was already 7.3 m (24 ft., Spain).[11] Most cultivars are variants of H. annuus, but four other species (all perennials) are also domesticated. This includes H. tuberosus, the Jerusalem Artichoke, which produces edible tubers.
Uploaded
August 1st, 2013
More from Bruce Bley
Comments (22)
Bruce Bley
Eva, Thank you for the feature in the group "Enhanced Floral Arts - 3 Per Day". I sincerely appreciate the honor.
Bruce Bley
Charlie, Thank you for the feature in the group "Nature and Landscape". I truly appreciate it.
Patricia Keller
Gorgeous presentation, Bruce. Love this one. Great work. v/f/g/t/f
Bruce Bley replied:
Patricia, I want to thank you for the kind compliment and the various promotions. I sincerely appreciate it.
Jordan Blackstone
Great color and beautiful capture, Bruce! v
Bruce Bley replied:
Thank you for the kind and gracious compliment, Jordan. I also want to thank you for your vote. I also
Bruce Bley
Everett, Thank you so much for the feature in the group "Why Not Group". I truly appreciate the honor.
Bruce Bley
Jose, Thank you so much fro the feature in the group "Stop time with art". I really appreciate it.
Bruce Bley
Klaas, I am very grateful for the feature in the group "Small showroom. Thank you so much.