Native Americans grew and selected sunflower varieties for flour, food, and oil. The Spanish brought this new-world plant to Europe in the 1500s and by the 1700s and 1800s the Russians were growing them in large quantities. It eventually made its way back to North America in the form of Russian varieties that we still grow today, such as 'Mammoth Russian'. Canadian and American farmers now grow sunflowers primarily for oil production, but plant hybridizers also started creating attractive varieties for the garden as well.
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