Beauty Beyond Function

Camellia: symmetry + structure + pattern = beauty

Fallen camellias

” . . . the book of nature is at least in part written in the language of mathematics.  The behavior of physical reality is governed by many rules; some of these rules may lead to specific kinds of pattern, patterns that many species evolve to admire.  Thus these laws may have something to do with universal ideas of beauty.”
— David Rothenberg, Survival of the Beautiful:  Art, Science, and Evolution