Narrow Results

We measure the fractal dimension of an African plant that is widely cultivated as an ornamental – the Asparagus plumosus. This plant presents self-similarity, remarkable in at least two different scalings. In the following, we present the results obtained by analyzing this plant via the box counting method for three different scalings. We show in a quantitative way that this species is a fractal.

The complexity of the Nautilus pompilius shell is analyzed in terms of its fractal dimension and its equiangular spiral form. Our findings assert that the shell is fractal from its birth and that its growth is dictated by a self-similar criterion (we obtain the fractal dimension of the shell as a function of time). The variables that have been used for the analysis show an exponential dependence on the number of chambers/age of the cephalopod, a property inherited from its form.