Sunflower Seedhead Parastichy Numbers from Citizen Science Experiment

Encompassing observations from 657 sunflower seedheads, focusing on the occurrence of Fibonacci and non-Fibonacci structure in their spiral patterns. It includes 768 evaluated clockwise and anticlockwise parastichy numbers, of which 565 were Fibonacci numbers. The study is the largest of its kind and provides independently checkable inclusion criteria.

Use Cases

• Analyze the frequency of Fibonacci numbers among the 768 parastichy numbers to test biomathematical models of phyllotaxis.
• Investigate the occurrence of non-Fibonacci structure, including numbers one less than a Fibonacci number, across the 657 sunflower samples.
• Identify and characterize quasi-regular heads where no definitive parastichy number could be assigned.
• Compare the prevalence of clockwise versus anticlockwise parastichy numbers for Fibonacci structure.

Strengths

• Data from 657 sunflower seedheads, the largest study of its kind in the literature.
• Includes 768 evaluated parastichy numbers with explicit and independently checkable inclusion criteria.
• Systematically reports seedheads without Fibonacci structure, a novel contribution.

Limitations

• The dataset's specific variables and file structure are not detailed in the provided input.
• Sample size of 657 sunflowers may be geographically limited relative to global sunflower diversity.
• Data collection relies on citizen science methodology, which may introduce variability in measurement.

Provenance

Source

Dryad

Collection Method

Citizen science experiment collecting data on sunflower seedheads.

Freshness

Last updated 2020-06-24.