![]() In order for the number of spirals to be a Fibonacci number, the leaves have to be oriented at a specific angle from each other. If you measure the angle between each leaf, the angle should be the same between each adjacent leaf on the stem. The benefit the plant receives from having its leaves grow in a spiral formation down the length of its stem is actually quite simple – it keeps them from shading each other out and thereby maximizes their exposure to the sun. The arrangement of leaves is called phyllotaxis, and when the leaves on a stem form a spiral pattern it’s called a phyllotactic spiral. You can find this same pattern in lots of other plant parts, including the aggregate fruits of pineapples, the disc flowers of sunflowers (and other plants in the aster family), the bracts of artichoke flowers, florets on a cauliflower, and leaf arrangements of all sorts of other plants. ![]() Most often it’s either 5 and 8 or 8 and 13. So, what does this have to do with pine cones? Well if you count the number of spirals that are going to the right, then count the number of spirals going to the left, you usually end up with two adjacent numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. Each square drawn is larger than the last in accordance with the Fibonacci sequence, and the spiral drawn through the squares is a logarithmic spiral. This is commonly represented by drawing a series of squares on graph paper and then drawing a spiral across the squares. The ratio of two neighboring Fibonacci numbers is an approximation of the golden ratio( e.g. Continue adding the sum to the number that came before it, and that’s the Fibonacci Sequence. One, two, three, five, eight, and thirteen are Fibonacci numbers. But maybe that’s not that surprising either, as Fibonacci numbers are also pretty common in nature.Īdd 1 plus 1 and you get 2. The more interesting thing is that the number of spirals found on pine cones are almost always Fibonacci numbers. ![]() While we’re on the topic of pine cones, have you ever considered their scales and the spirals they form? Nature is replete with spirals, so perhaps it’s no surprise that they are found in pine cones. ![]()
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