Flash Post 215!

Button, what I am about to share with you fascinated me and, I am sure, it’ll make you sit up wide-eyed too.

Tell me.

Do you know what sunflowers look like?

Yes, I do.

Well, they face east at dawn and then, as the day progresses, they follow the sun, looking upwards and bend to the west. At night, they face east again in anticipation of the sun’s return the following morning. This is called heliotropism and sunflowers aren’t the only plants following the course of the sun but it’s a mystery how they do it. Researchers have just revealed that their internal clock and their ability to detect light works together switching on genes related with growth at the right time, to allow the stems to bend with the movement of the sun. The team also pointed out that sunflowers when fully grown, as tall as people in some places, and those facing eastwards get a head start, warming up early to attract pollinators. And, like other plants, stems of young sunflowers grow more at night but only on their west side and grow more on their east side during the day.

This is fascinating. Where did you read about this?

I read about it in today’s TOI. This was originally published in Science, a weekly science journal published in America of August 5 and the authors were Hagop S Atamian, Stacy L Harmer and others.

Thank you.