Not all sunflowers follow the sun, and it’s not evidence that big, important star has been replaced

A field of sunflowers can be a cheerful sight, but recent social media posts suggest the distinctive plants show something more sinister — evidence that the star holding our solar system together has been replaced. 

"The sunflowers are turning away from the sun because that’s not the sun," says text over a video showing a field of large sunflowers with their heads turned away from the camera. The camera pans between the sun overhead and the bowed flowers. 

A May 16 Instagram post sharing this video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

But this video isn’t suspicious. It’s science.

While sunflowers are growing, their heads turn back and forth to track the daytime sunlight, according to the University of California, Davis. They grow better when they can follow the day’s shifting sunlight. 

But as the flower heads mature and the plants’ overall growth slows, their stems become "stiff and woody," according to a post on the university’s website about why sunflowers face east. The sunflowers’ movement decreases until their heads all stay facing east, toward the morning sun. 

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"This seems to be because, as overall growth slows down, the circadian clock ensures that the plant reacts more strongly to light early in the morning than in the afternoon or evening, so it gradually stops moving westward during the day," the university said in a 2016 post about how sunflowers use their circadian clocks to anticipate dawn and follow the sun’s position across the sky.

The sun is estimated to be more than 4.5 billion years old. Experts say it will begin to die — but not for another 5 billion years. There’s no sign it’s going anywhere now.

We rate claims sunflowers facing away from the sun are evidence that the sun has been replaced Pants on Fire!