L-System Plant Growth Screensaver
The L-System Plant Growth screensaver grows branching plant structures using real Lindenmayer-system fractal grammar, the same technique used to model real plant growth. It is free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
Live preview
Press ESC to leave fullscreen. Settings are saved in your browser only.
How the L-System Plant Growth screensaver works
The saver applies a real Lindenmayer-system (L-system) rewriting grammar to generate a branching plant structure.
Each growth cycle expands the grammar one more generation, adding new branches and leaves.
Once a plant reaches full growth, it fades and a new random L-system grammar begins growing elsewhere.
This is the same real grammar-based technique botanists and graphics researchers use to model plant growth.
A worked example
A single stem splits into two branches, each of which splits again, quickly building the same self-similar branching seen in real ferns and trees.
Settings & tips
- Accent recolours the branch and leaf tips.
- Based on the real Lindenmayer-system grammar used in botanical modeling.
- A new random grammar begins each growth cycle.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this based on real botany research?
- Yes — real L-system grammars, first developed to model real plant growth patterns.
- Is a key needed?
- No — it is a pure local simulation.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
- Does every plant look the same?
- No — the grammar rules vary each cycle, producing different branching structures.