Much Ado about NOTHING

Orchids have to be one of weirdest flowers. I keep one on the windowsill over the kitchen sink. It's a concatenation of roots and snaky, meandering stems in a pot of wood chips, topped by a few blade-like leaves. It's not one of those plants that loves dirt. It's not particularly thirsty, either -- I've been watering it when I think of it, about once a week. I did not have high hopes for it ever flowering again. So it was quite a surprise when it burst into bloom recently, flaunting pink petals and what look like herbaceous claws. It's beautiful (see here and here) but a little sinister looking. I could almost believe it's carnivorous, like a Venus flytrap -- an omnivorous orchid that might bite my finger. The name orchid "comes from the Greek órkhis, literally meaning 'testicle', because of the shape of the root," claims Wikipedia, source of all wisdom. Some people see sex in everything. I haven't noticed that the roots resemble genitalia, but those ancient Greeks were a lascivious lot.