Wise sunflowers, what motivates you to spin around looking for the sun?

Sunflowers are one of the plants that catch my attention when I travel through Castilla-León near Valladolid at this time of the year.

My entry to Qurator Photo Quest

I am fascinated by their colorfulness and by the quality of rotating to the rhythm of the sun.

Sunflowers follow the movement of the sun, which is called heliotropism. That is, as the earth revolves around the sun, the sunflower moves to expose itself as much as possible to its rays, so that when the sun sets, they return to the initial position to be ready to make this turn again the next day. They may not have brains, but they are able to anticipate events.

What motivates the sunflower to turn day after day?

The origin and cause of the sunflower's movement lies in its stem. This plant with the warmth offered by the sun manages to grow faster, stronger and obtain greater strength in its structure, which is why the plant, during its growth phase, seeks to move with the sun to take advantage of all the available light.

In addition, sunflowers more exposed to the sun have higher quality flowers and therefore a greater attraction of pollinating insects. Maybe that is why I, as a bee in this great hive that is our blockchain, find myself so attracted to sunflowers.

Do sunflowers turn in the night?

Sunflowers are amazing. At night, they slowly turn back to the starting position they had the day before. In this way, they benefit from the first rays of the sun while they are still in the growth phase.

When the plant matures, as it does not need as much sun, its rotation slows down because it does not need as much sun.

Therefore, I can say that nature is wise and the sunflowers are gifted pupils.