It's fascinating to realize that some of our most prized domestic plants and animals are monstrosities. The first definition of monstrosity in my dictionary is "a malformation of a plant or animal". Certainly it's arguable that the natural form of an organism is that which allows it to thrive under natural conditions. Any form that would not would be a malformation—that is, a monstrosity.
Now think of many of our ornamental plants with spectacularly patterned
leaves; designs formed by contrasting green with other colors or even white. However,
parts of leaves lacking chlorophyll, though possibly spectacular visually, cannot do
what the green parts of plants are meant to do: manufacture food. Pampered in our
houses, many such plants survive nicely, but how many could take the stresses of living
out in the wild? Of course, one of our most important plants, long grown in the
Southwest, is corn—maize, that is. It doesn't survive in the wild, but can we call
it a monstrosity? A plant created by Native Americans, it apparently never even had a
natural habitat!
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.