I stopped by the co-op after work today. Grabbed a couple of oranges and then whoa–did a double take.

What the heck is that???

That, my dearies, is Broccoli Romanesco. Which, according to my research, is a vegetable with an identity problem. In some parts of the world it’s considered a cabbage. In others, cauliflower. It’s not broccoli although you’d never know that from the name. I’ve never seen it before but OMG, it’s SO freakin’ GORGEOUS, don’t you think? Seriously, you CANNOT beat mother nature when it comes to cool designs.

Mother Nature obviously paid attention during geometry class. LOOK at the pattern. Just look at it. Since I didn’t pay attention during geometry–I was an art major, remember–I came home and looked it up. This is called a fractal form. If I understand this correctly, the pattern repeats itself small and smaller until the cellular structure of the material reaches it’s limits. So every little bump is identical to every other. Except smaller. That means even the tiniest bump you see has that crazy spiral pattern ad infinitum.

Makes me dizzy thinking about it.