multifurcating

Multifurcating is an adjective describing something that divides into several branches or forks rather than two. The term derives from Latin multi- meaning many and furca meaning fork.

In biology, multifurcation is commonly used in phylogenetics to describe a node in a tree that gives rise to three or more descendant lineages. This pattern is often called a polytomy, and it can be hard (reflecting an actual rapid diversification) or soft (resulting from insufficient data or limited resolution that prevents resolving the order of splits).

Hard polytomies are interpreted as true simultaneous divergences at a rapid speciation event, indicating that the lineages diverged essentially at the same time. Soft polytomies arise when data are insufficient to resolve relationships among the descendants, and increasing data or different analytical methods may help clarify the branching order.

In botany and plant morphology, multifurcation describes branching patterns where a point yields three or more branches. The term is used to describe forking patterns in stems, inflorescences, or other plant structures, and is related to, but distinct from, other terms such as forked or multifurcate morphology.

In mathematical contexts, multifurcation refers to a branching of solutions in dynamical systems or bifurcation theory where a parameter change yields more than two new branches of behavior or equilibria, extending the concept of a bifurcation beyond two-way branching.

See also polytomy, bifurcation, fork, and branching process.