You’ve probably heard that sunflowers get their name because they always grow facing the sun. And although this image is very beautiful and seems like something out of a story, it is also very real. The curiosity of this plant does not only respond to a biological or scientific phenomenon, but myths and fantastic stories have also been created to explain this phenomenon. Among these stories, the myth of Clitia stands out, a nymph from Greek mythology, whose story seeks to answer why sunflowers follow the sun. If you want to know more, be sure to read that in this new article we have the answer.
The myth of Clitia and the legend of why sunflowers follow the Sun
Contemplating numerous works of art, it is easy to assume that in the myth of Clitia she turned into a sunflower to follow the journey of her beloved Helios through the sky. However, The Greeks did not know about sunflowers, which are a plant native to the American continent., specifically from Central America and North America. They did not reach Europe until the beginning of the 16th century, when the Spanish transported both representations of the flower made of gold and seeds to the old continent. The artists adapted this new plant that was said to rotate with the Sun to the myth of Clitia, which according to Ovid was transformed into a plant when Helios (Apollo) rejected it. Let’s get to know the myth of Clitia and its adaptation to the legend of why sunflowers follow the Sun. Oh, and remember that, when you finish reading, you may be interested in taking a look at all the Greek myths that we have compiled for you.
1. The Myth of Clytia
According to some versions of the myth, Clitia was a nymph daughter of Oceanus and Thetis. For others, however, she was the daughter of King Orcamus and Queen Eurynome, who was an Oceanid. The young woman fell madly in love with Helios (Apollo), the god of the Sun, which is why she spied on him from the time she rose in the East until she set in the West. Although at first it seemed that Helios was going to reciprocate her love, Clitia discovered that her lover was having relations with her sister Leucótoewho had become pregnant.
Possessed by jealousy, she denounced her own sister to her father, who was very strict. When he heard the news that her daughter was expecting a child from Helios, He condemned his daughter to die buried alive so that no one could find out about her pregnancy., thus avoiding embarrassment. Helios, upon knowing the fate to which her beloved was destined, ran to save her… But he did not arrive in time. On her grave he planted an incense plant to grow.
Clitia thought that, once the beautiful Leucótoe disappeared, Helios would notice her again. However, the sun god learned that she had been the one who betrayed her and despised her so deeply that, Clytia, depressed, sat for nine days and nights without eating or drinking on a rock on the coast watching the sun rise and set.
According to Ovid (who apparently took the myth of Clytia from Hesiod) this:
«…I only contemplated the god
The face as he passed and his countenances turned towards him.
Their limbs, they say, clung to the ground, and a livid pallor
He poured part of his color into the bloodless grasses;
She partly blushes, and a flower very similar to a violet covers her face.
She, although by a root is retained, to the Sun
It becomes his and, mutated, he preserves his love.
Clitia became a flower, a plant that lived thanks to sunlight. Specifically, it became a Heliotrope, a plant with violet and whitish flowers whose generic name, «Heliotropium», comes from the Greek words «Helios» which means «sun», and «tropein» which means «to return», due, not not that it turns towards the Sun, but rather that it seems to always face it, since only the part of the plant that is exposed to the rays of the sun blooms.
2. Legend of why sunflowers follow the Sun
The myth of Clytia became a legend by incorporating sunflowers into history. In one of the versions, the nymph, naked and without food or drink for nine days, sees how her broken heart gradually turns into a yellow and brown flower that blooms with the sun and cannot stop following it in her daily life. celestial walk. Another version says that it was the gods who, upon seeing her wasting away following the sun in the sky, turned her into a sunflower.
3. Heliotoprism or the reason why sunflowers follow the Sun
The scientific name of the sunflower is Helianthus. and is composed of two words of Greek origin «helios» which means «sun» and «anthos» which means «flower», therefore, yesIt is called “sun flower”. The popular name sunflower honors the popular belief that the plant follows the sun during its diurnal path. However, that is a mistake. Only the closed buds of the plant do it, since they need sunlight to develop. As they grow, the stems become rigid and therefore the adult plants are fixed. The orientation they follow is, normally, facing east throughout the day. The myth of Clitia explains in legend why sunflowers follow the Sun.
The phenomenon of the young flower of sunflowers facing the sun is known as heliotropism. When dawn breaks, the bud faces east and follows the sun as it moves across the sky. During the night it reorients itself to be ready to face the east when the sun rises. As it is a circadian rhythm, even if there is a day without sun, the young plants will move just as if it were shining in the sky.. Heliotropism stops when the plant reaches maturity.
In addition to the sunflower, there are other plants that are heliotropic such as calendula, cotton, alfalfa or heliotrope. Did you know that besides sunflowers, other plants were heliotropic? Did you know the myth of Clitia? Tell us in the comments section. 🙂