What does the sunflower symbolize? A full breakdown of its flower language and meaning
The sunflower is a large annual plant of the genus Helianthus in the Asteraceae family that can grow up to 3 m tall. Also known as xiangyanghua, wangrilian, taiyanghua and so on, it gets its name because its flower head turns with the sun. It originated in South America and is the national flower of Russia, Ukraine, Portugal, Peru and Bolivia. Let us take a look below at what the sunflower symbolizes.
What does the sunflower symbolize?
Bravely pursuing the happiness you want. The sunflower's flower language is faith, radiance, pride, loyalty and adoration, and its meaning is silent love, representing the courage to pursue the happiness you want. Although the sunflower's bearing is not as romantic as the rose, nor as pure as the lily, it is sunny and bright, loving openly and honestly, loving without ever letting go, and it has a unique charm all its own. Moreover, what it blooms is not only love, but also a passion for dreams and for life.
Why does the sunflower face the sun?
Under sunlight, the auxin content on the shaded side of the sunflower increases, stimulating the cells on the shaded side to elongate and turn toward the sun. After the sun sets, the auxin is redistributed, causing the sunflower to turn back to the east. At the same time, auxin is distributed on the shaded side of the sunflower's receptacle, so the stem on the shaded side grows faster and the stem bends toward the light source. What is more, the sunflower's facing the sun is also closely related to the effect of gravity.
What legends are there about the sunflower?
1. Legend one: Clytie was an ocean goddess who was once the lover of the sun god Helios, but later Helios fell in love with the Persian princess Leucothoe. Furious, Clytie reported the relationship between Leucothoe and Helios to the Persian king Orchamus. Orchamus ordered his unchaste daughter to be buried alive. When Helios learned of this, he cut off all contact with Clytie. The devoted Clytie went for days without food or drink, gazing at Helios driving his sun chariot rising in the east and setting in the west, growing more haggard by the day, and in the end she turned into a sun-facing flower (the sunflower).
2. Legend two: Clytie was a water nymph. One day in the woods she met the sun god Apollo, who was out hunting, and she was deeply captivated by this handsome god and fell madly in love with him. But Apollo did not even give her a glance and walked away. Clytie eagerly hoped that one day Apollo would speak to her, but she never met him again. So she could only watch the sky every day, watching Apollo drive his golden, splendid sun chariot across the sky. She fixed her eyes on Apollo's course until he sank below the mountain. Day after day, she sat there in a daze, her hair in disarray, her face worn and thin. As soon as the sun rose, she would look toward the sun. Later, the gods took pity on her and turned her into a large golden-yellow sunflower. Her face became the flower disk, forever facing the sun, following him every day -- Apollo, telling him of her never-changing love and adoration. Therefore, the sunflower's flower language is -- silent love.
3. Legend three: In ancient times there was a farmer's daughter named Minggu. She was simple and honest, and she was pretty, yet her stepmother, the "female tyrant," saw her as a thorn in her side and subjected her to every kind of humiliation and abuse. Once, over a small matter, she talked back to her stepmother with one sentence, which enraged the stepmother, who beat her with a leather whip, but in one stroke she missed and hit her own biological daughter, who had come to mediate. The stepmother was both furious and full of hatred, and at night, while Minggu was sound asleep, she gouged out her eyes. Minggu, in unbearable pain, broke down the door and fled, and died not long after. After her death, a bright yellow flower bloomed on her grave, facing the sunlight all day long; it was the sunflower. It expresses Minggu's longing for light and her loathing of darkness. This legend inspires people to hate violence and darkness and to pursue the light. And so the sunflower has multiplied to this day.