A 407-million-year-old #plant’s leaves skipped the usual #Fibonacci spirals
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fossil-plant-leaves-fibonacci-spirals

Leaves and #sporangia developed in rare non-#FibonacciSpirals in early leafy plants https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg4014 by Holly-Anne Turner et al.

"#Lycopod leaves evolved separately from leaves in other types of #plants, but some modern #lycopods do exhibit Fibonacci spiraling. That suggests the spiraling patterns may have evolved separately in different lineages of plants"

I treated myself to a little eBay auction a couple of weeks ago and bought a peacock spikemoss (Selaginella wildenowii - my seventh species). It has lamellar structures in the upper cuticle of the leaf that cause thin-film interference (like a soap bubble, or an oil spill in a puddle) that make it flash blue iridescence at particular angles.

#Selaginella #Spikemoss #Lycopod #Iridescence