Orchids in sunlight

[pegkerr]

The law firm where I work has several glass top tables with orchid plants set on them. I stopped to look at one on my way back from break. One dozen blossoms follow the arc of the pale green stem, arranged back to back like extravagently dressed southern belles in two adjoining lines of a Virginia reel. The petals are perfectly sculpted symetrical curves, pearly white with veins of eggplant purple radiating out from the center. The secret heart of each blossom is dark purple velvet, with a pointed tip curling up like an elf's shoe. The sunlight slanting from one side makes the right edge of the petals shimmer.

Down below, the slender stem disappears into the bowl between two flat large dark leaves. They look vulgar, like impossibly large green tongues. It seems almost insulting to claim that they belong to the same plant.

Comments

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Oh. Now I can't wait to start reading Swans. You write sooo beautifully.

[misia.livejournal.com]

"On the Vulgarity of Orchids" ought to be the title of an imaginary book. Late-Victorian vintage. Perhaps one of your characters could notice it on a shelf?

I wonder if the plant is a Brassolaeliocattleya. I've been racking my mind trying to remember what orchids pair their blooms like that and that's the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

[ambar.livejournal.com]

I was thinking Phalaenopsis myself.

[misia.livejournal.com]

You're probably right, given that they're much less temperamental and easier to find. I was thinking back-to-back bracts, I guess, not symmetrical stemming, but the more I think about it the more I'm sure that you're right, because the phalaenopsis leaves are exactly what Peg was describing.

[mereilin.livejournal.com]

Entries like this one are the reason I started reading you. That was really beautiful. :)

(If you're wondering, I kept reading you because I love reading about how other moms deal with ... everything. It makes me feel less insane. ;)