488 Church. — Note on Phyllotaxis. 



construction gives the true key to the problem, and that the 

 whole subject thus becomes a question of the mechanical dis- 

 tribution of energy within the substance of the protoplasmic 

 mass of the plant-apex : that phyllotaxis phenomena are the 

 result of inherent properties of protoplasm, the energy of life 

 being in fact distributed according to the laws which govern 



Fig. 3. Log. spiral theory: Construction for Phyllotaxis system (8 + 13) in 

 terms- of distribution of energy. Contact Parastichies = orthogonally intersecting 

 log. spirals in ratio (8 : 13). The curve through i, 22,43, &c., is alsoalog. spiral. 

 Genetic spiral winds left. Divergence-angle = 137° 30' 38". Bulk-ratio of axis 

 to primordium = 0^., AB. = \ : 5 vifithin a small error, or = Sin A0B = .2q\ for 

 the true curve. ',' 



the distribution of energy in any other form : and that the 

 original orthogonal planes, the relics of which survive in the 

 contact parastichies of the system, represent the natural 

 consequence of a mechanical system of energy-distribution 

 directly comparable with that which produces the orthogonal 

 intersection of cell-walls at the moment of their first formation. 



