Some stories begin with a riddle.

This one begins with rabbits. 800 years ago, a mathematician named Leonardo of Pisa—better known as Fibonacci—asked this:

If a pair of rabbits has babies every month, and those babies grow up and have babies too… how many rabbit pairs will there be after a year?

He did the math, month by month:

Month 1: 1 pair
Month 2: still 1
Month 3: 2 pairs
Month 4: 3 pairs
Month 5: 5 pairs

…and the sequence began: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21…

Each new number came from adding the last two. He wasn’t just solving a rabbit problem—he was discovering a growth rule.

From Numbers to Nature

Now here’s the cool part:

The same sequence that modeled how rabbits multiply…also shows up in how flowers bloom, how shells grow, how seeds spiral out from a sunflower’s center. Why? Because it’s a natural rule for building and growing. One step builds on the last two.

How Does the Fibonacci Sequence Work?

It starts with the basics:

Begin with 1, then another 1
To get the next number, add the two numbers before it

So, it looks like this:

1
1
1 + 1 = 2
1 + 2 = 3
2 + 3 = 5
3 + 5 = 8
5 + 8 = 13
8 + 13 = 21
…and so on!

The Fibonacci sequence goes: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, ...These numbers can go on forever, and they grow quickly!

Now, here's where it gets even cooler. If you take any number in this sequence (after the first few) and divide it by the number just before it, you get a number that’s closer and closer to about 1.618.

This special number is called the golden ratio. And linked to the golden ratio is a cool angle—roughly 137.5 degrees—called the golden angle.

Why Nature Uses These Numbers

So, what does this number list and golden angle have to do with nature being super organised and efficient? Turns out, lots of plants use this pattern for their growth!

• Seeds and Spirals:

Look at a sunflower head or a pinecone. The seeds or scales aren't just scattered randomly. They form amazing spirals that curve in opposite directions. If you count the spirals going one way and then count the spirals going the other way, you'll often find that the two numbers are neighbours in the Fibonacci sequence! For example, a sunflower might have 34 spirals going one way and 55 going the other. Pinecones often show 5 and 8 spirals, or 8 and 13.

• Efficiency in Packing:

Why do plants do this? This spiralling pattern, guided by the golden angle (about 137.5° between each new seed or leaf), is the most efficient way to pack things. For seeds, it means they are packed uniformly—not too squished in the middle or too spread out at the edges—making the best use of the space. This gives the plant the best chance to grow and reproduce.

• Leaves and Sunlight:

It’s not just seeds! The way leaves are arranged on a stem often follows this pattern too, called Phyllotaxis. If you look down on a plant, the leaves spiral around the stem. This arrangement helps each leaf:

get maximum sunlight without being shaded by the leaves above it
and channel rain down to the roots

You can see Fibonacci numbers when you count the leaves and turns it takes to find a leaf directly above another. Many common plants like oak, cherry, apple, and rose use patterns like 2/5 or 3/8 of a turn between leaves—where 2, 3, 5, and 8 are all Fibonacci numbers.

• Petals and Produce:

Even the number of petals on many flowers is a Fibonacci number!

Buttercups often have 5 petals
Lilies and irises have 3
Some daisies have 34, 55, or even 89

Vegetables like cauliflower and Romanesco broccoli also show these amazing spirals and Fibonacci numbers in their florets.
If you cut an apple across its "equator", you'll find the seeds arranged in a 5-pointed star.

While the Fibonacci sequence and golden ratio patterns are super common and help explain nature's efficiency, it's important to know it's not a universal law for every single plant. It’s more of a widespread "tendency" than a strict rule.

The really inspiring part is how humans learn from nature's cleverness!

Seeing how perfectly sunflowers pack their seeds using Fibonacci spirals has given people ideas for designing things like:

• Logos based on the golden spiral design
• More efficient ways to arrange solar panels to capture the most sun
• Showerheads that use less water but still feel powerful—by copying nature’s efficient patterns

Fun Fact:

You have...

2 hands, each with
5 fingers, and each finger has
3 parts, separated by
2 knuckles

That’s 2, 3, and 5—all Fibonacci numbers hiding in you. Even your body might be built using the same logic nature uses to grow leaves and spirals.