Yes, I know it's called heliotropism. I guess I was oversimplifying, but to oversimplify some more... sunflowers do not "follow" the sun. It's a circadian rhythm. They cycle at night, as well:
From recent experiments:
"...as she and her group detail in a recent Science paper, Harmer found that plants left in the dark would continue to make their rounds for a while, even without the sun to track."
So it's not as simple as saying they are heliotropic. They don't "follow" the sun. They are facing east before the sun comes up.
Also, it's the stem that orients (not the head, the head simply follows). The stem does it before there are any heads.
It might have something to do with pollination (they're not sure yet). Heads facing a certain way get more visits from pollinators than heads facing in other directions.
Don't get me on the subject of plants. I can talk about them indefinitely. Plants are endlessly fascinating and we don't know very much about them. They have discovered some that are genetically more complex than humans.
From recent experiments:
"...as she and her group detail in a recent Science paper, Harmer found that plants left in the dark would continue to make their rounds for a while, even without the sun to track."
So it's not as simple as saying they are heliotropic. They don't "follow" the sun. They are facing east before the sun comes up.
Also, it's the stem that orients (not the head, the head simply follows). The stem does it before there are any heads.
It might have something to do with pollination (they're not sure yet). Heads facing a certain way get more visits from pollinators than heads facing in other directions.
Don't get me on the subject of plants. I can talk about them indefinitely. Plants are endlessly fascinating and we don't know very much about them. They have discovered some that are genetically more complex than humans.