Sunflowers turn their young flower heads to follow the sun across the sky during the day.

The longer version

Young sunflower heads track the sun from east to west during the day, then swing back overnight to face east again. The movement comes from unequal growth, because cells on the shaded side of the stem elongate faster than those in direct light, slowly bending the head over.

The behaviour stops once the flower matures, and most mature heads settle facing east. Warm blooms attract more visiting insects in the morning, so the daily motion of the young plant appears to give it an early start at gathering light and, later, attention from pollinators. The bending also makes young plants easy to recognise in a field, since every head points the same way at a given hour.

Where this entry sits

Plants and Trees gathers ordinary and surprising details about how green things live, from the tallest forest giants down to the moss on a garden wall. Expect notes on flowers, seeds, roots, leaves, fungi, and the quiet tricks plants use to spread and survive. The full list sits on the Plants and Trees page, where every entry is listed in order.