I only meant it as a possible explanation for why it wouldn&#x27;t be unreasonable to think phi appears often in nature. I don&#x27;t really have enough knowledge of nature to say if it&#x27;s the case.<p>Distribute the seeds of a sunflower radially, placing one seed every 360*x degrees, gradually increasing radius. If x=a&#x2F;b, after placing b seeds, you will be back to the initial position and the next b seeds will be (radially) shaded from the first b seeds (which I admit, might not be how shading works in practice). If x is irrational, but closely approximated by a&#x2F;b, the seeds won&#x27;t line up perfectly, but still enough to shade quite a bit. If x is phi, then they will shade as little as theoretically possible (I think.. This is by no means a proof, just some thoughts). IIRC, the &quot;sunflower seed pattern&quot; is actually achieved only if you simulate such a seed placing with x close to phi.