Trees can be identified in winter by observing their needles, bark, branching patterns, and buds. Distinctive bark, such as the smooth gray bark of a beech or the peeling white bark of a paper birch, ...

Summary Plants exhibit dependences between shoot growth and branching that generate highly structured patterns. The characterization of the patterning mechanism is still an open issue because of the ...

In the centenary year of the publication of a seminal treatise on the physical and mathematical principles underpinning nature - On Growth and Form by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson - a Cambridge physicist ...

Non-vascular bryophytes live in colonies that cover the ground and resemble tiny forests. In a real forest, plants compete for light in different layers of the canopy. If a plant does not receive ...

Branching patterns are prevalent in our natural environment and the human body, such as in the lungs and kidneys. For example, specific genes that express growth factor proteins are known to influence ...

Haley Mast is a freelance writer, fact-checker, and small organic farmer in the Columbia River Gorge. She enjoys gardening, reporting on environmental topics, and spending her time outside ...