'Ghost tree' forms human face

Scores of people are flocking to a village in northern Malaysia to see a betel nut tree which has sprouted a human-like face.

Newspapers carried pictures of the green face on a frond of a seven-meter (23-foot) -high tree. The unexplained phenomenon has led villagers in Kampung Paya to dub it the "ghost tree," the News Straits Times said.

The Star newspaper's website showed a picture of a tree with a face-like feature reminiscent of a Pacific island ritual mask.

Owner Miah Majid, 60, told The Star that she spotted the face last week and that it was the second time an unusual shape had appeared on the 10-year-old tree in her backyard. The first formation was in the shape of an eye, she was quoted as saying.

The frond will probably last another two weeks before it sheds, she said.

Superstitious village elders have advised onlookers not to make any comments when they pass the tree, reports said. Other enterprising villagers are selling photographs of the face for 2 ringgit (30 pence).