Fun Science about Sunflowers My sunflowers were blossoming when I left home yesterday. Well, I was very curious if they really turned towards the sun during the day so I took a photo of them. I thought if that's true when I returned home they should be facing the west. However, when I was home they were still facing towards me. There must be something going wrong I thought. Then I asked Google, it gave me a quite interesting answer. Generally, young sunflowers track the sun from east to west during the day and once they grow up, they don't do it anymore, adult sunflowers always face the east : ) Is it just like children and parents haha! The movement of the sunflowers is due to uneven growth. One side of the stem elongates during the day, the other during the night. This growth is driven by genes that respond to light and the plant's circadian rhythm. Plants that tracked the sun when young have more biomass and eastward facing adult plants are warmer. This extra warmth makes them better at attracting pollinators.