Parastichy Grid

The Parastichy Grid draws the spirals you see in a sunflower head or a pine cone as a grid of their own. One family of curves spirals clockwise, another counter-clockwise, and where they cross sits a seed. A third, fainter family cuts every cell into two triangles, so the floor reads as faceted. Light runs inward along the spirals toward the young centre, each spiral on its own timing.

How it works

Seeds in a sunflower are laid out at the golden angle, and the eye strings them into spirals. The numbers of spirals in each direction are always neighbours in the Fibonacci sequence, such as 21 and 13. This grid draws those spiral families directly, so every crossing falls exactly on a seed. Nothing turns: the only motion is the light travelling along the curves, with a sharp head and a long fading tail.

Settings

• Section Size is the number of spirals in the main family; use a Fibonacci number such as 13, 21, 34 or 55.
• Divergence is the angle between seeds; 137.508 is the golden angle.
• Third is the weight of the triangle-cutting family.
• Sap is the brightness of the light running inward.
• Fill sets the faceted two-tone fill of the cells.

Use it for

Sacred-geometry and wellness visuals, botanical and natural brands, premium floors and maths education. The Phyllotaxis Grid shows the same head as florets instead of spirals.