To ensure that plants flower at the right time of year, they possess an internal clock that enables them to measure the amount of daylight during a day. In a study published in the journal Plant Physiology, biologists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) describe that the mutation of a specific gene makes the flowering time of barley almost entirely independent of day length. This mutation can be useful for breeding varieties adapted to altered climatic conditions with relatively mild winters and hot, dry summers.