Sunflower’s Unusual Response Towards the

Sun

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

General Question:

What does the Sunflower’s unusual response towards the

Specific Questions:

1. How does sunflowers follow the Sun?

According to Atamian et al (2016), young sunflower plants watch the Sun during the day from
east to west and then, in anticipation of dawn, reorient themselves during the night to face east. In
comparison, with their flower heads facing east, mature plants cease movement. We show that circadian
regulation of directional growth pathways reflects both phenomena, leading to increased vegetative
biomass and increased visits to flowers by pollinators. Solar tracking movements are driven on the stem's
east and west sides by antiphasic elongation patterns. On the opposite sides of the solar tracking stems,
genes involved in controlling phototropic growth, but not clock genes, are expressed differently.
Therefore, interactions between the environmental response pathways and the inner circadian oscillator
coordinate physiological processes with predictable environmental changes in order to affect growth
and reproduction.

In addition, Brown E. et al (2014) said that Sunflower tracking, Helianthus annus, is a dramatic
example of a diurnal pattern in plants. During the day, the shoot apex constantly redirects, following the
relative position of the sun, so that the growing heads pass from east to west. Every night, the other way
around, and the heads return to face east in anticipation of dawn. The daily cycle dampens and eventually
stops at anthesis, after which the sunflower head maintains an easterly orientation. While apical
heliotropism has long been the subject of physiological studies in sunflower, there are no known
underlying developmental, cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive the directional growth and
curvature of the stem in response to extrinsic and perhaps intrinsic cues. Furthermore, the ecological
roles of solar monitoring and the eastward orientation of mature heads have been the subject of
significant but unresolved speculation. In this analysis, we discuss the current state of knowledge of this
complex, dynamic feature. It identifies candidate pathways that can lead to daytime and nighttime
movement, including light signaling, hormonal activity, and circadian growth pathway regulation. Often
weighed are the merits of the numerous theories proposed to clarify the evolutionary value of sunflower
heliotropism.
 According to Lang A.R.G (1974), Young leaves of sunflower, follow the sun and therefore the
chosen azimuth varies during the day from east to west. Regardless of the position of the sun, a strong
trend towards a northeastern azimuth was noticed. Distributions are given in terms of the angle cosine
between the beam of the sun and normal on the surfaces of the leaves, and the angle of the step between
the usual leaf projection on the solar plane and the beam of the sun. Calculations show that the
heliotropism of sunflower leaves and to some extent of bean leaves, significantly increases the radiation
intercepted by these species throughout the day compared with that expected for a random leaf
distribution. For well-irrigated sunflower plants in single and multiple field lines, morning and afternoon
observations showed that plant competition and row orientation had a significant effect on the leaves '
phototropic and heliotropic response, especially with respect to the mean leaf azimuth angle.

Heliotropism is any positive or negative, turning or bending of a plant or sessile animal toward,
or away from, light, esp. sunlight, Harcourt H. (2010). The growth of plants or plant parts (especially
flowers) in response to the stimulus of sunlight, so that they turn to face the sun Collins Dictionary
(2010).

Native to North America. The name sunflower comes from the Greek helios "sun" and anthos
"flower." Sunflower got its name because the flowers turn toward the sun. Some kinds of sunflowers
are grown for food, seeds and oil. A sunflower head can produce up to 1,000 seeds. Argentina and
Russia grow the most sunflowers. Kansas is the "Sunflower State."
According to Vandenbrink J.P et al. (2014) Sunflower derives its name from its reputation for
solar monitoring in many languages (Spanish: girasol is a mixture of "to spin" and "sun;" French:
tournesol is a mixture of "to transform" and "sun"). Nevertheless, the status of sunflower as a solar
tracking plant has been frequently challenged due to the common belief that heliotropism persists
beyond anthesis. This dates back as early as the accounts of New World plants by European herbalists
in the 1500s: “some have reported it to turn with the sun, the which I could never observe, although I
have endeavored to find out the truth of it”. Several reports in the late 1800s claimed that sunflowers
did not track the sun and argued that instead the name was originally derived from the resemblance
of the disk and rays of the flower to the sun. This dispute was settled by two seminal studies, which,
along with other facts, presented photographs documenting the regular east-west movements of
domesticated sunflower heads, wild H. Annus and other wild relatives.
 CONCLUSION
The reason behind the sunflower’s unusual tracking the sun’s direction and following it is
because of “heliotropism” also known as “solar tracking”, an ability of a plant to have a response in the
Sun’s movement. While in the night, the young sunflowers tend to re-arrange their heads reversely as
they anticipate the Sun’s movement and the cycle goes on until the sunflower gets matured and stays
facing in the east. Sunflower (Helianthus) comes from the Greek word Helios means “Sun” and Anthos
means “Flower”. It got its name due to the fact that sunflower’s ability to track down and follow the
Sun’s direction. Sunflowers have a beauty on its own but as you can see, it has a special behavior makes
it special just like other types of flowers.
 REFERENCES

Atamian et al (2016). Circadian regulation of sunflower heliotropism, floral orientation, and pollinator visits.
Retrieved from https://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6299/587 on October 9,2019.

Brown E. (2014). Turning heads: The biology of solar tracking in sunflower. Retrieved from
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0cz6x139 on October 9,2019.

Harcourt H. (2010) and Collins Dictionary (n.d). Meaning of Heliotropism. Retrieved from
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/heliotropism on October 13,2019.

Lang A.R.G (1974). Quantitative measures of leaf orientation and heliotropic response in sunflower, bean,
pepper and cucumber. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0002157174900624 on October 9,2019.

Vandenbrink J.P et al. (2014). Turning heads: The biology of solar tracking in sunflower. Retrieved from
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0cz6x139 on October 13,2019.