UGLY IS BEAUTIFUL

Ivory Cane Palm (Pinanga coronata)
















It's great to be human; to precieve and be awed by beauty when no beauty is intended, such as landscapes, sunsets and most forms of life.


Palms, by (nonintelligent) design, have only one growing point per stem/trunk. If the growing point is damaged, death is inevitable. Due to extreme diversity of leaf-eaters close to the equator, many tropical palm specie have developed colorations of their newly emerging leaves. One theme is reddish (orange/red/purple) leaves, which insects perceive as brown, hence appears dead or dying. Another is mottling; blotches of contrasting color, which gives gives the appearance of being anemic, diseased or in the latter stages of some insect infestation.

So this is one of Nature's way of intentional unattractiveness, yet we see it as beautiful. It's great to be human.