Fig. 2.

Alternative division planes for a simple cell shape. (A and B) Two young glandular trichomes of Dionaea muscipula. The glands are made of four nearly identical quadrant cells that can divide according to three different planes—two mirror image anticlinal planes and one periclinal plane. (C–E) Equilibrium configurations of soap bubbles reproducing the observed periclinal (C) and two anticlinal (D and E) divisions of the quadrant cells. (F) Experimental search of the configuration landscape for two soap bubbles trapped in a circular quadrant. The configurations corresponding to the observed division planes are local area minima, which are also energy minima in the case of soap bubbles (see also Movie S2).