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 tor Phyllotaxis system (8+13) in 
terms of distribution of energy. Contact Parastichies = orthogonally intersecting 
log. spirals in ratio (8 : 13). The curve through 1, 22,43, &c., ls also a log. spiral. 
Genetic spiral winds left. Divergence-angle = 137 0 30' 38". Bulk-ratio of axis 
to primordium = OA., AB.~ 1 : 5 within a small error, or = Sin AOB = > 204 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, 
