Is there a scientific name for the arrangement of branches around the trunk of a tree?

Although it generally pertains to the arrangement of leaves, you could use the term phyllotaxy, and modify it by specifying branch or twig phyllotaxy.





Phyllotaxy is the term scientists use for "arrangement", as in opposite, alternate, or whorled.





The buds for the new side growths (branches) are associated with leaf axils, the new branches don't just come from anywhere. So if you have a tree with opposite leaves, it will also have a habit of opposite branching. You may not see this at every place where a branch develops, though, because a bud might not develop into a twig, or damage to young growth could occur. And the older the growth, the fewer the branches that would be present, so you'd need to be very careful in how you determine what arrangement is present.





Something on phyllotaxy: http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/news...


http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/courses/str...

Is there a scientific name for the arrangement of branches around the trunk of a tree?
No