Branching angles, the angles between branch units of lateral branch complexes, were measured for 32 species of tropical trees with Terminalia-branching pattern, representing seven dicotyledonous families. Angles of many but not all species are similar to the theoretical optimal values determined by computer simulations based on Terminalia catappa. These theoretical values maximize the effective leaf area of the branch complex. Real branching angles tend to remain relatively constant within a lateral branch complex, although a difference between sapling and adult branches was noted in T. muelleri. The pattern of mirror image symmetry of complexes within one branch tier appears to be random. The coefficient of variation is greater for the separate branching angles of a bifurcation than for the bifurcation angle as a whole. We conclude that observed branching angles optimize effective area in many species (as predicted by the T. catappa model). Large differences between the real and theoretical values for some species may be due to their dissimilarity to the T. catappa simulation.
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Fisher et al. (1979) studied this question.