Fibonacci In Biology

Plants

Plants show the fib. seq. extensively. The arrangements of leaves, shoots, flowers, petals, you name it, all show the fob. seq. Of course plants don't intend to follow this sequence, they just grow in the most comfortable way , spreading out their various appendages so they all get the materials they need, easily. Plants are also excellent subjects if you want to study golden spirals.

Sunflowers, pineapples, pinecones. what do they have in common other than the fact that they're all plants? each one is formed of opposite sets of spirals . a pineapple has 8 spirals going in the opposite direction. a pinecone? 5 and 8. A sunflower? 21 and 34.   8, 13, 21, 34. they are numbers in the fib seq!

The fib. seq. also forms a part of phyllotaxy. Phyllotaxy, by the way, is the pattern of arrangements of leaves around the stalk. Many plants like daisies, succulents, firs and pines show the fib. seq. in their leaf arrangement patterns.

The same thing occurs even in the arrangements of flowers. now take a look at the following:

3 petals - lily

5 petals - buttercup

8 petals - delphiniums

13 petals - corn, marigold.

21 petals - chicory

34 peals - pyrethrum

55,89 - daisies, sunflower.

You know, you could actually give you math teacher a Fiboquet on teachers’ day or the first day of school!!

Daisies seem to have taken this Fibonacci thing to heart. there are species of daisies with 13, 21,34,55and 89 petals.

the most common daisies have 34 petals (sometimes they have 33 due to malnutrition and underdevelopment).

The Sneezewort

The sneezewort is one incredible plant. that’s why it has this little bit devoted to it. the sneezewort has a strange growth pattern:

Each branch lengthens through time and then reproduces another exactly like itself, which repeats the pattern of Fibonacci branching.

In scientific terms it shows cumose inflorescence. (An inflorescence is a flower that is made up of many flowers, i.e., a compound flower. another example of an inflorescence is a sunflower.)

The Fib. seq pops up all through the Animal Kingdom. It shows up in the morphological features and reproductive patterns of animals like rabbits, bees, ants and bees. Take a walk and you'll soon come across a trail of ants (they're everywhere, the little buggers!). If you look closely, you'll find that an ant's body is divided in the Golden ratio! the Fib. Seq. plays around many different creatures. Take a dive into the ocean(or visit your local aquarium) and what do you see? More Fibonacci. The eyes, tail and fin of a dolphin are all associated with the Fib. seq. An angelfish is also similar. When you start looking around, you will see that the Seq. is almost always there, in some form or the other. to find out more, start clicking around.

Humans 

The Human Body 

Finally, we come to the interesting part: the Fib. seq, the Golden ratio and. ourselves.

Ok, where shall we begin? First things first. Every cell in our body has the Fib. Seq. entwined in it, i.e., the fib. seq. can be found within our DNA.

The DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule has a double helical structure. It is 34 angstroms long and 21 angstroms wide. 21? 34? Do those numbers ring a bell? Oh, what did you know, they are successive numbers in the Fib. Ser.!

Now look at your hands. Look carefully at those pretty fingers of yours. The lengths of the divisions of your fingers, i.e., fingertip to 1st ridge, 1st ridge to knuckle, etc, follow the Golden ratio.

Also, you have 2 hands which bear 5 fingers, 8 of which (exclude thumbs) are divided into 3 sections. 2, 5, 8, 3? Yes! More Fibonacci!

And guess what? The size of your hand is proportional to the size of your hand in the golden ratio. And, wait there's more! The distance from your eyes to the bottom of your chin is divide by your eyebrows, nose and mouth fit in the golden ratio. Phew! But why stop wait the face and hands? The fib. sec. manifests itself on your entire body!
 
And finally, did you know that what we generally perceive as beauty is actually the fib. seq? The closer you body is to the G.ratio, the more beautiful you will seem to other people. The same applies to your face. No wonder the great sculptors of the ancient Greek and Roman eras used the Golden ratio when sculpting.