Purple sunflower seeds

[elizabeth perez]

Hi everyone I'm new to the forum and also to gardening. I planted a few sunflowers and today I was excited to harvest my first sunflower seeds to my surprised the seeds were purple instead of black and white. Anyone know why? I was really looking forward to toast the seeds now I dont know what to do.

 

[ReslerMomma]

Wow! Ive never seen purple ones. What kind of sunflowers did they come from?

 

[elizabeth perez]

Mammoth sunflower. My other sunflowers are black and white.

 

[ReslerMomma]

I have some Russian mammoth sunflower seeds that are black and white also. Maybe the purple got crossed with something?

 

[Rachel Hayes]

Hi everyone I'm new to the forum and also to gardening. I planted a few sunflowers and today I was excited to harvest my first sunflower seeds to my surprised the seeds were purple instead of black and white. Anyone know why? I was really looking forward to toast the seeds now I dont know what to do.

I have the same issue! Maybe I harvested too early?

 

[Amylou]

We have just taken the seed from two of our sunflowers. One is purple and the other black and white...

 

[Robert Cummings]

Certain sunflower seed is purple before it turns black, may have harvested a little early but they should be fine, there are so many varieties and variants that without knowing much more it's difficult to say exactly.

 

[Marck]

There seems to be a widespread myth online that Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seed that is colored purple has been treated with pesticides. Clearly this is not always so, if ever so, as home gardeners are harvesting purple sunflower seeds.

Anthocyanin plant pigments occur in the majority of plants and can develop in a number of different plant tissues.

The purple seeds seen above is natural variation, a trait more likely to occur in some cultivars and individuals than others.
The pigment is also likely more visible during certain stages of development.