MacPherson Strut

I was trolling the Internet the other day and came across an entry in Wikipedia (yeah, I know) about the MacPherson strut. The first car I owned with the device was my 1974 Mercury (nee Ford) Capri. At the time it was considered a selling point - today, not so much.

Anyway the entry was a bit strange. I've cut and pasted the introductory paragraph:

The MacPherson strut is a type of car suspension system which uses the axis of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot, widely used in modern vehicles and named after Earle S. MacPherson who developed the design, based in part on designs created by Guido Fornaca of FIAT in the mid-1920s. It is possible the MacPherson was inspired by the suspension on the French Cottin-Desgouttes that used the same design, but with leaf springs. Cottin-Desgouttes front suspension was in turn inspired by Walter Chrisies 1904 design and he was inspired by plants.

Inspired by plants? What kind of plants and how did he use them?

I haven't had time to look into double wishbone suspension. Heaven knows what the inspiration might have been.