Nature · Study 028
Phyllotaxis
Seeds placed one at a time, each turned 137.5 degrees from the last, pack into a sunflower head. Nudge the angle and the packing falls apart.
What you're looking at
Seed number n sits at an angle of n times the divergence angle and a distance proportional to the square root of n. At 137.508 degrees, the golden angle, the seeds fill the disc evenly and spirals appear in Fibonacci counts. Change the angle by a fraction of a degree and gaps open into spokes.
The idea behind it
The golden angle works because the golden ratio is the hardest number to approximate with fractions, so no seed ever lines up neatly behind an earlier one. Plants reach it through simple growth chemistry: each new bud forms in the largest available gap.
Try this
Move the pointer left or right to detune the angle by up to 0.6 degrees either way.
