Page 86 - Photosynthesis: The Green Miracle

The Fibonacci series is an important factor in the precise arrangement in plants’ leaves. The
flowers shown above reveal the order and aesthetic beauty set out in line with the Fibonacci
series. Although the leaves and flowers we see around us may at first sight appear to be set
out haphazardly, they are actually arranged according to a complex mathematical system.

Above, the sequence of leaves on a pear tree. If we tie a thread around where one leaf ap-
pears on the tree and turn that thread around the branch until coming to the leaf above at
the level of the first, we pass by five leaves. We see that only the sixth leaf is at the level we
started at and that at this point the thread has run twice around the branch. Therefore, in or-
der to describe how there are five leaves in two circuits, we may write the leaf sequence on
this branch as 2/5.