Sunflower

**Sunflower** is a main recurring character within the *Plants vs. Zombies* franchise, arguably being considered the mascot of the whole series. She plays a crucial part of the player's defense, producing extra Sun to plant more plants.

Throughout the series, Sunflower has been depicted with a bright and cheerful disposition to match her sun-based abilities.

As of *Plants vs. Zombies 3*, Sunflower has appeared in every game in the *Plants vs. Zombies* franchise, either as a plantable unit, a playable character, or making cameos in games she does not directly appear in.

## Origins

Sunflower's design is based on the Common Sunflower (*Helianthus annuus*), a crop native to the Americas harvested for their edible oils and seeds. Her ability to produce sun is a pun on the plant she's based on.

Her reload animation in her shooter game appearances where she lifts her face towards the sun is a reference to the urban myth which states that sunflower heads always face the sun.

## History

### Plants vs. Zombies

***Main article:*** Sunflower (PvZ)

In the original *Plants vs. Zombies* game, as well as all Chinese spin-off games based on it, Sunflower is the first plant to be unlocked, given after beating Level 1-1.

She can be considered one of the most important plants in the game, producing extra sun for the player to plant more expensive plants more readily. She produces one piece of sun every 25 seconds, with each sundrop being worth 25 sun. Sunflower can be upgraded into Twin Sunflower, which produces twice as much sun as Sunflower, a total of 50 sun every 25 seconds.

At the end of the game, she sings the credits song Zombies on Your Lawn, voiced by Laura Shigihara.

### Plants vs. Zombies Adventures

***Main article:*** Sunflower (PvZA)

Sunflower reappears in PopCap's ill-fated Facebook game *Plants vs. Zombies Adventures*, where her ability is left mostly unchanged, with the simple change of producing sun every 15 seconds rather than 24.

Twin Sunflower reappears in this game as its own separate plant and also has her own VIP variant, the Power Flower, which produces 3 sun rather than one.

### Plants vs. Zombies 2

***Main article:*** Sunflower (PvZ2)

In *Plants vs. Zombies 2*, Sunflower is once again the second plant obtained, being unlocked after beating Player's House - Day 1, producing 50 sun rather than 25 due to a change in the sun system.

Sunflower is a member of the Enlighten-mint family, creating sun every 5 seconds and gaining a boost in system production depending on their level while her Plant Food effect has her create an instant burst of 150 sun. Twin Sunflower has also returned and like *Plants vs. Zombies Adventures*, as their own plant.

### Garden Warfare subseries

***Main article:*** Sunflower (PvZ: GW)

Sunflower lays a prominent role in the *Garden Warfare* series of shooter games, where she is the medic of the plant team, using her signature Heal Beam to quickly restore an ally's health directly, as well as placing potted Heal Flowers to heal both herself as well as multiple allies at a steady pace.

As with the other playable classes in the *Garden Warfare* series, she has numerous Character variants based on her, each having their own traits that differentiate them from the standard base character.

### Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars

***Main article:*** Sunflower line

Sunflower next appeared in the Chinese-exclusive turn-based game *Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars* as the first plant in the Sunflower line, evolving into Twin Sunflower and then into Triplet Sunflower. She attacked by firing sunbeams at zombies and had a chance to heal her allies.

Her active ability was **Photosynthesis**, which healed all plants, even if they were shielded.

Her soulmates were members of the Pea line for a health boost, members of the Corn line for a damage boost, and members of the Stump and Tree line together for a defense boost.

### Plants vs. Zombies Heroes

***Main article:*** Sunflower (PvZH)

Sunflower also appears in the turn-based mobile card game *Plants vs. Zombies Heroes*, where she appears as a 1 cost 1 Flower plant with *Team-Up* in the Solar class.

While her health is quite low, her ability grants the plant hero +1 at the start of each turn, as long as she is still alive. There are two cards that can give the plant hero extra Sunflowers.

There is also a playable Plant hero based on Sunflower in *Plants vs. Zombies Heroes*. Solar Flare is a Kabloom/Solar Plant hero whose specialty is sun (mana) production and high cost removal cards.

### Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

***Main article:*** Sunflower (PvZ: BfN)

Sunflower once again appears in the third-person shooter game *Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville*. She is a  Support class who specializes in healing her allies with her signature Heal Beam, now able to give her allies extra health in the process, and her new Sunny Side Up ability, which can heal both herself as well as multiple allies at a steady pace, effectively transforming her into a Heal Flower from previous shooter installations.

Unlike in the *Garden Warfare* series, Sunflower no longer has any Character variants but instead has a large number of character upgrades, some of which grant abilities to Sunflower's primary weapon and abilities.

### Plants vs. Zombies 3

***Main article:*** Sunflower (PvZ3)

Sunflower appears in *Plants vs. Zombies 3,* as one of the main characters in the game's story. However, in gameplay, she only appears in the UI of this game, as well as being one of the main characters.

She can be interacted with in-game, however, giving an extra sun if given a piece of Plant Food or a Taco.