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Project Noah Nature School
Salix babylonica
Life and Mathematics. The male flowers and the leaves are arranged spirally, i.e., along a helix. Salix babylonica is a medium- to large-sized deciduous tree, growing up to 20-25 m tall. It grows rapidly, but has a short lifespan. The shoots are yellowish-brown, with small buds. The leaves are alternate and spirally arranged, narrow, light green, 4-16 cm long and 0.5-2 cm broad, with finely serrate margins and long acuminate tips; they turn a gold-yellow in autumn. The flowers are arranged in catkins produced early in the spring; it is dioecious, with the male and female catkins on separate trees.[
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
All the cases in the observed tree were right hand helices!!!
Spotted on Mar 13, 2012
Submitted on Mar 13, 2012
2 Comments
Liz, the spiral that the leaves are following is a symmetry operation, well known in crystallography, and symmetry is mathematics
Great shot! However, why is this in the “Life and Mathematics” mission? I think it might not quite fit with the purpose of that mission, so you should consider taking it out of that mission :)