Phyllotaxis. A Systematic Study in Plant Morphogensis. 2009. 84 line figs. b/w figs. tabs. 404 p. gr8vo. Paper bd.

Phyllotaxis, the study of the patterns determined by leaves, petals,and other organs of plants, raises some of the deepest questions ofplant morphogenesis. In this book, the many facets of phyllotaxis aredealt with in an integrated manner for the first time. The authordescribes a unified concept of phyllotaxis, and presents a mathematicalmodel of plant growth based on experimental, anatomical, cellular,physiological and palaeontological observations. The model provides aframework for formal analyses of botanical data, and also emphasises therelevance of phyllotaxis to other structures, such as crystals andproteins, making this book of interest to crystallographers andphysicists as well as to botanists and mathematicians.