whorl 
(wôrl, hwôrl, wûrl, hwûrl)
(wôrl, hwôrl, wûrl, hwûrl)n.
1. A form that coils or spirals; a curl or swirl: spread the icing in peaks and whorls.
2. Botany An arrangement of three or more leaves, petals, or other organs arising from a single node.
3. Zoology A single turn or volution of a spiral shell.
4. One of the circular ridges or convolutions of a fingerprint.
5.
a. A small pulley that regulates the speed of the bobbin of a spinning wheel.
b. A small flywheel that regulates the speed of a hand-operated spindle.
[Middle English whorle, alteration of whirle, whirl, from whirlen, to whirl; see WHIRL.]
whorlwhorls of leaves