whatThe entire genome is three lines of grammar: X becomes F-[[X]+X]+F[+FX]-X, F becomes FF, and a bud marks where growth stops. Lindenmayer rewriting: apply the rules again and again, then read the string as turtle strokes -- walk, turn by the branch angle, brackets push and pop the pen. The seed bends the species: branch angle, taper, lean, and sway temperament.

whyThe claim is the resemblance itself: nothing in those three lines mentions trunks, fronds, or the habit of a fern, yet six generations in a recognizably alive plant stands on the page -- main stem, alternating branches, drooping tips. The stroke count multiplies by the same factor each generation the way real meristems do, measured here from one stroke to thousands. Slide the generations to replay its childhood; the grown plant sways in a breeze that bends young twigs more than old wood.

howThe string is compiled once into strokes and normalized; growth unfolds them in birth order; wind is a depth-weighted rotation at draw time, so the trunk barely stirs while the tips toss. Click to regrow from a sprout. One integer is the species.