Helianthus Multiflorus

Known as “dwarf sungold” sunflowers, its distinctive feature of such a flower is that throughout the centuries it underwent a mutation in its process of activation/deactivation of petal production, thus bringing about its characteristic “double flower” effect. Generally endowed with a remarkable height and royal appearance, this type of sunflower is highly decorative: its intense yellow colour reminds of summer heat and both its leaves and flowers are “heliotropic”, that is, they turn to follow and always face the sun. The flower’s beauty has inspired plenty of artworks like Bartolomeo Bimbi, painter at Grand Duke Cosimo III de’Medici's court, who depicted every “marvel of nature” in the Boboli Garden so as to catalogue the widest range possible of its botanical species.