The Fundamental Theorem of Phyllotaxis revisited
Abstract
Jean's `Fundamental Theorem of Phyllotaxis' (Phyllotaxis: a systematic study in Plant Morphogenesis, CUP 1994) describes the relationship between the count numbers of observed spirals in cylindrical lattices and the horizontal angle between vertically successive spots in the lattice. It is indeed fundamental to observational studies of phyllotactic counts, and especially to the evaluation of hypotheses about the origin of Fibonacci structure within lattices. Unfortunately the textbook version of the theorem is incomplete in that it is incorrect for an important special case. This paper provides a complete statement and proof of the Theorem.
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