This Is Why Plants Grow Towards the Sun
I was seven when I first planted a seed in the rather patchy but endearing backyard. There weren’t many other kids around growing up, so the backyard was the place where I would explore and discover new things. It was small and unsightly at first sight for everyone who was too busy to take a close look.
The more time I spent in the backyard, the more I discovered my own corner of the world. I found all sorts of insects, played with the lizards as if they were my pets (which may have frightened the few kids who could’ve been my potential play-mates), and I learned about how ants sourced their food and carried it back to their colony.
After observing nature play its course in the backyard for a long time, planting a seed was my first attempt at farming. I had dreams of sharing the yields with everyone to prove the value nobody saw in the backyard. The seed I planted was a sunflower seed. in Farsi, we call it “gole aftab gardoon,” which translates to “sun-turning flower.”
It was shortly after my sunflower sprouted that I wondered if it could turn towards the sun like the name suggested. Soon after, I was able to confirm the magical ability of the sunflower plant. I didn’t know how or why my sunflower plant did this, but to me, it was the closest thing to magic that I had discovered thus far. Surprisingly, no one else shared my sense of amazement about plants turning towards the sun. As time went by, I forgot about sunflowers but my passion for plants never left.
It was just another normal Saturday that I was appreciating a new Monstera leaf unfurling towards the window, that I remembered my sunflower plant and the unsolved mystery of my childhood: why do plants turn towards the sun? Here, my learning journey began:
Why do plants grow towards the sun?
Plants need light to photosynthesize, so it’s only natural that they would do their best to get closer to light if they aren’t getting as much light as they need. Their ability to grow in response to light is called phototropism (photo: light, tropism: turning). And what’s really interesting is that phototropism isn’t limited to the plant kingdom, some Fungi and bacteria also exhibit this behavior.
There’s a plant hormone called Auxin that helps with increased cell division and cell growth, and several other functions. This hormone is produced at the stem tips where new leaves grow and it causes growth in cells that are farther from the sun. When these cells start to grow, the plant bends in the direction of the light. Some theories speculate that Auxin travels towards the cells with less sun exposure and some that suggest Auxin is evenly present near the tips but it breaks down with exposure to light.
Try this at home: If you are curious to see which one of these two theories is more accurate, here’s one way you can put them to the test: If we assume that Auxin is distributed evenly and then broken down by sunlight, cover one side of the stem with something that blocks light such as a piece of paper and then we can expect the plant to grow sideways, pointing away from the side that was covered. If you do end up trying this, leave your findings in a comment!
What can I do to find light in difficult times
There’s so much you can learn from nature if you just stop to smell a flower or to say hi to a beetle. Since the age of seven, I’ve continued to find joy and peace in plants’ never-ending attempts to adapt to their environment and make the best with what they have. In difficult times, it’s great to find light and try our best, more importantly, to be that light for others around us when they need it.
What do you do to find the light or draw inspiration from nature? Let me know in the comments below.
