Agave Parryi

by Claudia Goodell

Title

Agave Parryi

Artist

Claudia Goodell

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photography

Description

Leonardo Fibonacci, an Italian mathematician in the Middle Ages, described a sequence of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two numbers preceding it in the series (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34...).

On agave plants the Fibonacci numbers can be found by counting the number of laps around the stem before a leaf is found in the same orientation on the stem as the starting leaf. Another method is to count the number of leaves passed between the starting leaf and the next leaf found in the same position, you will find another Fibonacci number. An Agave�s 8/21 phyllotaxy for example means that a spiral of 21 leaves will be counted in 8 complete turns around the stem.

If you calculate the ratios created by Agave phyllotaxy (2/5, 3/8, 5/13, 8/21, 13/34...), they get closer and closer to the fraction of 360 degrees known as the Fibonacci Angle or the Golden Angle. As the Agave's stem slowly grows, each leaf is initiated at this angle of about 137.5' from the previous leaf. Botanists and mathematicians trying to explain why plants exhibit Fibonacci mathematics have found that the Fibonacci Angle minimizes leaf shading in spirals like those of the Agave.

If you don't like math then perhaps it might interest you more that Mezcal is made from one of 5 or 6 species of Agave. Agave parryi var. truncata, is one used for mescal, but not tequila, which is type of Mezcal made from distinct agave plants in a specific geographic location in Mexico.

Uploaded

July 24th, 2015

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