Nutation (botany)

Simple nutation occurs in flat leaves and flower petals, caused by unequal growth of the two sides of the surface.

Similar inequality of growth, but more sharply localized, leads to the folding and rolling of the leaf in the bud, and to the changing shapes of flower petals.

[4][5] The growing tips of the vine or tendril initially swings in wide circles that maximize its chance of bumping into an obstacle (a potential support).

[11][12] These findings support the "two-oscillator" hypothesis, which has been revisited to account for the effect of elastic deflections due to gravity loading, previously disregarded.

[13] By means of a morphoelastic rod model, some studies showed that a Hopf-like bifurcation phenomenon occurs and elasticity plays an important role in determining the onset of oscillations.