The desire for alternative sources of fuels, chemicals, feeds, and other materials has received increased attention in the past decade. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) oil has the potential to be improved for nutritional and industrial purposes through selection and breeding.  The narrow genetic base of cultivated sunflower has been broadened by the infusion of genes from wild species, resulting in a continuous improvement in agronomic traits.  Interest in using wild species in breeding programs has increased, but information about the fatty acid composition is lacking for a number of rare and threatened species. The objective of this study was to evaluate achenes of seven wild sunflower species, Helianthus eggertii, H. schweinitzii, H. porteri, H. verticillatus, H. smithii, H. angustifolius, and H. atrorubens, from the southeastern USA for fatty acid composition of four major fatty acids, palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids. Helianthus verticillatus and eggertii had the lowest combined stearic and palmitic saturated acid concentration of 83 g/kg, less than cultivated sunflower with 115 g/kg, or about a 25% reduction. The lower saturated fatty acid profile in several of the species indicates these species have the potential to reduce saturated fatty acids in commercial sunflower oil. The high linoleic acid concentration in H. porteri of 815 g/kg is the highest concentration reported for a wild sunflower species. Linoleic acid concentrations for all seven species were higher than expected for populations grown in southern latitudes.   Other agronomic traits will need to be maintained during the introgression of these traits into cultivated sunflower. Further research will be needed to determine the inheritance of the fatty acids.