News Plants

Chinese money plant leaves hide a mathematical pattern

Tiny pores in the leaves appear to organize veins into a surprising geometric arrangement

Backlit round leaves of a Chinese money plant show branching veins and tiny pores, with a blurred outdoor scene in the background.

Light filters through the leaves of a Chinese money plant, showing a mosaic of veins and water-venting pores that form a mathematical pattern called a Voronoi diagram.

Nick Wurm/CSHL

By Alex Music

A common houseplant hides a pattern that may reveal how some leaf veins form.

The leaves of the Chinese money plant (Pilea peperomioides) display a geometric pattern called a Voronoi diagram, researchers report May 12 in Nature Communications.