Sunflower Orientation
How do sunflowers know which way to face on a cloudy day?
———- from Michael J. Potoski of Boise, ID
As the closing line from the old song “Believe Me If all those Endearing Young Charms” goes, “As the sunflower turns on her God as he sets, the same look that she gave when he rose”. This fragment from literature gives us an insight into both sunflower behavior and celestial mechanics. Being lightly endowed when it comes to critical ability, the sunflower ignores solar behavior, including hiding behind dark clouds, simply not showing up for hours at a time, and occasional rendezvous with a lunar penumbra. Called a “Co-dependent noxious weed” in certain states, the sunflowers unwavering constancy allows it to be used as a prairie timepiece, as accurate as many quartz clocks, especially ones with weak batteries.
As the closing line from the old song “Believe Me If all those Endearing Young Charms” goes, “As the sunflower turns on her God as he sets, the same look that she gave when he rose”. This fragment from literature gives us an insight into both sunflower behavior and celestial mechanics. Being lightly endowed when it comes to critical ability, the sunflower ignores solar behavior, including hiding behind dark clouds, simply not showing up for hours at a time, and occasional rendezvous with a lunar penumbra. Called a “Co-dependent noxious weed” in certain states, the sunflowers unwavering constancy allows it to be used as a prairie timepiece, as accurate as many quartz clocks, especially ones with weak batteries. 