Word Of The Week: February 23rd, 2008

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

February 23, 2008 |

letterh.jpg This week’s word is heliotropism. It’s a noun that means the tendency of plants to turn towards light, particularly sunlight. The word is derived from the Greek words helios, meaning “sun” and tropos, meaning “turning”. Sunflowers demonstrate heliotropism when they turn their heads to follow the sun. Just like Vincent van Gogh and other artists who left the stuffy studios to paint nature in the outside, sunflowers follow the light.  


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. cameron on February 23, 2008 3:44 am

    It is amazing to me how much we owe the Ancient Greeks.

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