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You are here: Home / Life / Fibonacci Numbers and Spirals in Plants

Fibonacci Numbers and Spirals in Plants

May 13, 2012 by Gary Meisner 4 Comments

Plants illustrate the Fibonacci series in the numbers and arrangements of petals, leaves, sections and seeds.

Fibonacci numbers in plant spirals

Plants that are formed in spirals, such as pinecones, pineapples and sunflowers, illustrate Fibonacci numbers.  Many plants produce new branches in quantities that are based on Fibonacci numbers.

Fibonacci numbers in plant branching

Here a sunflower seed illustrates this principle as the number of clockwise spirals is 55 (marked in red, with every tenth one in white) and the number of counterclockwise spirals is 89 (marked in green, with every tenth one in white.)

Fibonacci spirals in a sunflower seed

Here a plant illustrates that each successive level of branches is often based on a progression through the Fibonacci series.

plant showing Fibonacci branching

Fibonacci numbers in plant sections

You might expect symmetry in plants, but if you cut a fruit or vegetable you will often find that the number of sections is a Fibonacci number:

Bananas have 3

banana

Apples have 5

apple

Fibonacci numbers in flower petals

Many flowers have petals that total a number in, or very close to, the Fibonacci series:

Fibonacci series in the petals of a flower

3 Lilies
5 Buttercups, Roses
8 Delphinium
13 Marigolds
21 Black-eyed susans
34 Pyrethrum
55/89 Daisies

Filed Under: Life

Comments

  1. Gayatri says

    July 7, 2013 at 8:44 am

    Please include more stuff in this page. It is great, but falls short in terms of detail

    Reply
  2. latricia says

    April 27, 2016 at 1:37 pm

    Thank you.

    Reply
  3. Kacey says

    May 2, 2018 at 4:52 am

    it’s great but you really need more detail, and there are many more examples that i think you should’ve included

    Reply
  4. Hello says

    December 8, 2019 at 4:51 pm

    I do agree with the fact that this page lacks detail, it would be very helpful if you could include more details and facts, it would be kindly appreciated and helpful. Thanks.

    Reply

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