A tremendous amount of math is found in nature, and it’s most obvious in Fibonacci/Golden Ratio patterns in the world’s flora. But the Schumanniophyton problematicum plant’s leaves are determined by algebra, and a simple equation can tell you exactly how many leaves it has or how long it’s lived. The Schumanniophyton problematicum’s leaves can be expressed by 12Y + 4, where Y is the number of years the plant has been alive. 4 years? 52 leaves.
And it gets more impressive. Schumanniophyton problematicum is one of four plants to contain rohitukine naturally, which has shown antiinflammatory properties and can combat leukemia and colon cancer cells.
Photo by Ben P. https://guatemala.inaturalist.org/photos/30933078
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