How many lines of symmetry does a flower have?

Answer 1

It would depend on the number of petals. For instance if a flower had five petals, it would have five lines of symmetry. You could divide it five ways (with lines) and each time you divide it each half is even with the other.

Answer 2

If we assume that each petal is congruent, then the number of lines of symmetry is congruent to the number of petals.

Why? How?

Let's use an example!

Take a look at the picture attached. How many lines of symmetry are there?

There are 8 lines of symmetry.

Notice that the red lines bisect two petals. These are lines of symmetry. Try to imagine folding the picture of the red lines. What do you notice? (You should notice that the black outline of the flower overlaps perfectly with the other side)

The same goes for the purple lines, except you are bisecting the image from in between the petals. Again, try to imagine folding the drawing over itself. Try it with each line! Does the outline overlap perfectly?

Whenever you come across a problem like this where the petals of the flower are each congruent, and the center is a perfect circle, you can always conclude that the lines of symmetry is the same amount of petals in the pictures.