Overview

• Researchers confirmed that rose petal cusp formation is driven by Mainardi-Codazzi-Peterson (MCP) incompatibility, not the classical Gauss curvature model.
• MCP incompatibility concentrates stress in localized areas, creating the sharp cusps characteristic of rose petals.
• The study revealed a feedback loop where stress at petal cusps influences surrounding tissue growth, dynamically shaping the petal.
• The findings were validated through theoretical models, computational simulations, and synthetic petal experiments.
• This discovery has implications for developing shape-morphing materials, combining Gauss and MCP incompatibilities for programmable deformations.