sunflowers

Stacey Harmer visits the Life Sciences Building Greenhouse. David Slipher/UC Davis

Stacey Harmer Shines On with College of Biological Sciences Faculty Research Award

Posted by David Slipher on August 19, 2017
Awards and Recognition
When it comes to plant rhythms, Stacey Harmer, a professor of plant biology at the University of California, Davis, is hip to the groove. Her research, which appeared in the August 5, 2016 journal of Science, describes how sunflowers track the sun, beginning each morning with their heads facing east, slowly swinging west throughout the day and then resetting eastward at night.
Sunflowers near the UC Davis campus. New campus research shows how sunflowers use their circadian clock to anticipate the dawn and follow the sun across the sky during the day. (Chris Nicolini, UC Davis)

Sunflowers Move by the Clock

Posted by Andy Fell on August 04, 2016
Food, Agriculture and Plant Biology
It’s summertime, and the fields of Yolo County are filled with ranks of sunflowers, dutifully watching the rising sun. At the nearby University of California, Davis, plant biologists have now discovered how sunflowers use their internal circadian clock, acting on growth hormones, to follow the sun during the day as they grow.
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