Monday, September 10, 2007

Orchid (Spatoglotis)

Just when I'm beginning to think I know something about orchids, I discover I know nothing! Take, for example, Spatoglotis in the attached image. A few days ago one of my neighbors made good her promise of giving me some plants she called "orchids". Right off the bat I recognized a few lilies in the bunch but also two plants which I hadn't seen before. I was willing to bet that they weren't orchids! That night I saw some of the same plants for sale at the Cultural Fair in Santarém and I heard the same diagnosis, "orchids". I refused to believe it, especially after hearing the the owner refer to some lilies (the same kind of lilies my neighbor had given me) as orchids. But just for the hell of it, I referred the question on to people in the know, Claúdio and Bernadette Serique. Well, I had to "eat hat" because they turned out to be orchids. Spatoglotis, a ground orchid. They are planted and I can't wait to see the flowers they're going to produce one of these days. What worries me now are the lilies! Could it be that they are orchids too? No, I don't believe it!

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