The spiral pattern of an Aloe polyphylla plant at the University of California Botanical Garden. Stan Shebs via Wikicommons under CC BY-SA 3.0 To the untrained eye, plants may appear to grow rather ...

Next time you go outside, take a minute to look at your local leaf arrangements. You’ll probably notice a few different patterns. In basil plants, each leaf is about 90 degrees — a quarter-turn — from ...

Leaves can be enjoyed for their shade, autumn colors, or taste, and the arrangement of leaves on a plant is a practical way to identify a species. However, the details of how plants control their leaf ...

Leaf arrangement with one leaf per node is called alternate phyllotaxis whereas arrangement with two or more leaves per node is called whorled phyllotaxis. Common alternate types are distichous ...

The seeds of a sunflower, the spines of a cactus, and the bracts of a pinecone all form whirling spiral patterns. Remarkable for their regularity and beauty, these natural structures also show some ...