Abstract
We demonstrate that the pattern forming partial differential equation derived from the auxin distribution model proposed by Meyerowitz, Traas, and others gives rise to all spiral phyllotaxis properties observed on plants. We show how the advancing pushed pattern front chooses spiral families enumerated by Fibonacci sequences with all attendant self-similar properties, a new amplitude invariant curve, and connect the results with the optimal packing based algorithms previously used to explain phyllotaxis. Our results allow us to make experimentally testable predictions.
- Received 12 December 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.248104
© 2013 American Physical Society
Synopsis
How Plants Do Their Math
Published 13 June 2013
New simulations better explain how Fibonacci patterns can emerge from the biochemical processes driving a plant’s growth.
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