Detail of the inside of a sunflower, Boulder, Colorado

Detail of the inside of a sunflower, Boulder, Colorado

There’s a minor myth about sunflowers that persists to this day: That during the course of the day, a sunflower turns to follow the sun, so that the plant’s open petals are always exposed to maximum sunlight. That phenomenon is called ‘heliotropism’ and it is common in many plants. Immature sunflowers do exhibit heliotropism, but by the time the plant is in full bloom, as seen in this photo, that behaviour stops. But let’s cast that aside for a more important question: Do you eat roasted sunflower seeds whole (shell and all) or do you spit out the shell?