oilseed production, its hard to imagine sunflowers as an unpopular plant. The sunflower is one of only four major crops of global importance native to the United States blueberry, cranberry, and pecan are the other three. Native Americans in the U.S. have been using wild sunflower for food and medicine for at least 8,000 years. Archeological evidence suggests that Native Americans began cultivating and improving the sunflower as early as 2300 B.C. Thus, sunflower cultivation may predate cultivation of the Three Sisters of corn, beans and squash. The seeds of sunflower were usually roasted and ground into a fine meal for baking or used to thicken soups and stews. Seedballs, similar to peanut butter, made from sunflower butter made a convenient carryalong food for traveling. Roasted sunflower hulls were steeped in boiling water to make a coffeelike beverage. Dye was extracted from hulls and petals. Face paint was made from dried petals and pollen. Oil, extracted from the ground seeds by boiling, provided many tribes with cooking oil and hair treatment. Medicinal uses included everything from wart removal to snake bite treatment to sunstroke treatment.

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