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A new harvest has come in from the farm fields this week — a much anticipated harvest of our relatively new plot of Bush Sunflower.
Last year, the harvest actually occurred during the worst drought in recorded history. This little perennial still made seeds although most were consumed by the starving birds that found salvation on the farm. I don’t ever remember seeing so many gold finches before in my life. Due to the drought and an 8,000-acre wildfire, our farm was home to all types of wildlife including hundreds of gold finches and painted buntings.
photo courtesy Native American Seed Company.
Bush Sunflower, Simsia calva, is named for a British physician and botanist John Sims (1749-1831). It is a low growing perennial shrub that likes dry challenging soils of north central Texas west to New Mexico and south into Mexico. It can be found growing along limestone ridges, in prairies, straight caliche and roadsides. It is often used in re-vegetation mixes to control erosion or in reclamation efforts for lands that were mined.
Sunflowers are commonly know to provide very nutritious seed for many birds and mammals. The leaves of the Bush Sunflower are also of a high protein content that is easily digested by deer & live stock such as sheep and goats. It may be hard to establish in areas heavily populated by deer. Deferred grazing for at least one full growing season should be allowed for range establishment. Bush sunflower will not tolerate overgrazing and good range management techniques are a must.
The plant itself has an upright slightly mounding characteristic. It will grow to 1 ½ to 3 ft tall. Mature leaves at the base of the plant will be about 2 inches and will have a distinctive arrowhead shape. The newer leaves will be smaller at the top of the plant. It will have multi branched stems with a flower at the end of each stem. The flowers are 1 to 1 ½ inches across with yellow petals and a yellow center, and it will bloom from April until October.
Although the plant is woody, it is very brittle and Bush Sunflower is closely related to another popular native Wedelia texana, more commonly known as Zexmenia. One way to tell the two apart is to look at the leaf bases and on the Bush Sunflower they will have grown together. Both species have stems and leaves that feel like sand paper.
You will want to try this fantastic little native. It will draw in the wildlife just like the larger sunflowers but it is perennial and low growing making it perfect for landscapes and range plantings alike.
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**ARCHIVED POST AUTHOR: znobia
