How nature's patterns form

How nature's patterns form: In his talk, he will discuss how the arrangement of flowers, bracts, florets and stickers near the growth shoots of plants – known as phyllotaxis -- is a consequence of biochemically and mechanically induced pattern-forming instabilities.
"All the lovely patterns on plants have their origins in mechanical forces and biochemical processes," he said...
Patterns arise when the symmetry of a system is broken, Newell said. The similarity in patterns from system to system occur when the systems have similar symmetry, rather than because the systems are made from the same materials.