A Luxembourg office worker’s face has sprouted after she spent only 35 minutes in the sun during her lunch break, witnesses have reported.
On Tuesday, Saskia Payle, 36, sat on an outdoor bench with a colleague while eating a ceasar salad she had picked up from a bakery near the Big Four firm where she works.
After returning to her desk at 1:19 p.m., expressing how good it felt to finally see sunlight, the green sprouts suddenly appeared on her face and grew while her stunned colleagues looked on.
“This is not totally abnormal for relatively overcast and rainy climates, especially among people who primarily work indoors, such as office and factory workers,” says University of Wiltz botanist Pierre Franck.
He says the likelihood of having your face sprout is even greater for those who relocated to Luxembourg from other, sunnier climates.
He cites a case from the early 1900s when several Italian miners who had spent nearly six days underground in the south of the country emerged, saw the sun, and rapidly began to grow pine trees from their backs, faces, and arms.
“Their families were shocked, but at least the phenomenon resulted in a bounty of delicious pine nuts,” Franck said. “Let’s see what sort of pretty flowers or delicious fruits and vegetables Madame Payle will produce.”
“If her colleagues are kind and do not mock her, she may share her yield with them,” he added.
