Leonardo da Vinci’s rule for how trees branch was close, but wrong
It’s the surface area, not the thickness, of a limb that determines how it branches
![southern live oak](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/042522_JR_davinci_tree_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
The branching structure of virtually every leafy tree — such as this southern live oak in Charleston, S.C., dubbed the Angel Oak — is dictated by the surface area of its limbs, a new study finds.
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