Uploaded July 2014 | Updated September 2026, 16 hours ago

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Sunflowers have an internal biological clock that allows them to follow the sun as it travels from east to west. But the fascinating part came when researchers from the University of California-Davis brought sunflowers from the field into the lab, under unchanging light: the plants continued their dance for several days. Therefore, the scientists conclude that some sort of internal mechanism drives sunflowers’ daily motion in addition to the sun.

Read the full story here: discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/sunflowers-sway-to-their-own-beat-video

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Credit: Stacey Harmer, UC-Davis
Ledford, H. Video: Sunflowers move to internal rhythm. Nature (2014) doi:10.1038/nature.2014.15548

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