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For centuries, mathematicians, physicists, crystallographers, and others, together with botanists have been dedicating their own efforts to phyllotaxis, however, obviously because until recently they have had surprisingly little interaction, a major question is still how higher symmetry order patterns are generated at all. Accordingly, in the present article we make our effort mainly for bridging the mathematics-botany gaps existing in recent phyllotaxis studies. By doing so and on the basis of the latest progresses achieved from both the botany and mathematics sides of phyllotaxis, we point out that higher symmetry order phyllotaxis patterns can and could only come from lower order patterns generated by small shoot apical meristems (SAM) through anisotropic growth, which may change the diameter-to-height ratio of phyllotactic objects. In another words, higher symmetry order phyllotaxis patterns, such as floral phyllotaxis patterns of sunflower, could not generated directly by large SAMs. |
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Keywords:phyllotaxis;hyperbolic rotation;meristem;Arabidopsis;sunflower |
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