Official State Flowers of the United States

Helianthus - Wild Sunflower

Helianthus – Wild Sunflower

State of Kansas Flower – Kansas designated the wild native sunflower as official state flower and floral emblem in 1903.The sunflower is also featured on the Kansas quarter, state flag, and even the nickname for Kansas is “The Sunflower State.”

Helianthus or sunflowers (from the Greek: H-lios, “sun” and  anthos, “flower”) L. is a genus of plants comprising about 70 species in the family Asteraceae. The genus is one of many in the Asteraceae that are known as sunflowers. Except for three species in South America, all Helianthus species are native to North America. The common name, “sunflower”, typically refers to the popular annual species Helianthus annuus, or the common sunflower, whose round flower heads in combination with the ligules look like the sun.