BEWITCHING ORCHIDS

9/6/2015

Flowers carry on a dialogue with us through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms.
Augeste Rodin

Nowhere is this statement is true than in the company of orchids. I can’t explain why they move me intensely . . .why such pleasure emanates from long spindly stems and a tiny perfect blooms.

Theodore Roethke expressed it more eloquently:
They lean over the path,
Adder-mouthed,
Swaying close to the face,
Coming out, soft and deceptive,
Limp and damp, delicate as a young bird's tongue;
Their fluttery fledgling lips
Move slowly,
Drawing in the warm air

They are perhaps the most voluptuously beautiful of all flowers.

These are some digital glimpses of the incredible forms and colors of orchids .
https://www.flickr.com/gp/24876955@N02/89LHb2

Not surprising then that they also ‘inspire’ renegade plant dealers to steal them! Do read Susan Orlean's mesmerizing true story “The Orchid Thief”.

18 Comments

Deepa Mohan link

9/6/2015 05:01:37 pm

Enjoyed the beautiful images very much, thank you!

Ragu link

9/6/2015 09:20:32 pm

Thank you Deepa!

Ajit

9/6/2015 08:22:48 pm

Beautiful pics Ragu
Not my favorite flower but can't deny it's very pretty.
Two doubts: you may have the time to find out the answer to the first!
1. Why on earth is the medical name for the male gonads borrowed from such a beautiful botanical species?
2. In the website that is flickr linked, there is the bird of paradise flower as well. I'm quite curious why because as far as I know that isn't an orchid...

Have you read Chase's biggest seller "No Orchids for Miss Blandish"? It had a sequel (?prequel) "The Flesh of the Orchid" that I haven't.

I would be pleasantly surprised if you respond :-)

shalini sharma

9/6/2015 08:55:29 pm

Delicate, very beautiful, tantalising... yes. i do see bird of paradise and the common sugandhi too( the white one that grows wherever there's a lot of water) which are probably not in the orchid family..

Were they fragrant Ragu??

Thank you for sharing. Happy week!

Ragu link

9/6/2015 09:23:51 pm

Thanks Shalini...
The two of them couldn't resist the lure of orchids and forced their way in!
The orchids don't have over powering fragrance...they make up for it through their colorful demeanor to lure the unsuspecting insects!

Ragu link

9/6/2015 09:17:35 pm

Dear Ajit, I believe in Greek mythology, Orchis was the son of a nymph and a satyr. During a celebratory feast for Bacchus, Orchis committed the sacrilege of attempting to rape a priestess, resulting in his being torn apart by wild beasts, then metamorphosing into a slender and modest plant. Theophrastus was the first of the Western authors to mention orchids. It was he who first applied the name Orchis scientifically, echoing the myth of Orchis and reflecting the resemblance of the double root tubers to the male genitalia that got old Orchis in trouble in the first place. Greek women thought they could control the sex of their unborn children with Orchid roots. If the father ate large, new tubers, the child would be male; if the mother ate small tubers, the child would be female.
And the bird of paradise was so entranced by the orchids that it forced its entry!
Looking forward to seeing you more often here!

Uday; Lovely picture!

9/6/2015 09:44:05 pm

ragu link

9/7/2015 11:22:19 am

Thanks Udhay!

RAVI

9/6/2015 09:14:06 pm

thanks for the sharing the stunning photographs...each one of the orchids are so very captivating ... truly our earth would have been a much poorer planet without orchids..have a great week sir

Ragu link

9/6/2015 09:25:05 pm

Thanks Ravi!

Ajay

9/7/2015 03:32:41 am

Bewitching beauty, very well captured!

ragu link

9/7/2015 11:22:54 am

Thanks Ajay!

Ravi Shankar Rao

9/7/2015 09:21:54 am

Dear Ragu,
Truly bewitching and the legend about Orchis more so. You should visit Mahesh's ' orchidarium' (wonder if I used the right word) in his house. He has a more than a hundred of them and they are in bloom!
Regards
Ravi

Ragu link

9/7/2015 11:23:39 am

Thanks Ravi!
Would love to catch up with those on my return!

Elango

9/9/2015 05:34:40 am

Sir beautiful photos

Vivek

9/10/2015 08:54:52 am

Amazing photographs, sir.........what colour, beautiful

Malathi Swaminathan

9/12/2015 02:11:32 am

Wonderful!! Superb pictures, what clarity and so clear!! Fantastic!! My introduction to Orchids came in with my marriage, my husband a huge fan of Rex Stout. Rex Stout in his books always has Archie describe Nero Wolfe and his orchids sometimes as this "In the morning Wolfe came down from the plant rooms at eleven o'clock as usual, and as usual I had the mail opened and the dusting done and fresh water in the vase on his desk. He went first to the front of the desk to put a spray of orchids in the vase, Odontoglossum Pyramus, then circled around to his chair." The best encounter of theese flowers fortunately happened when we were in Jeju Island. They were having an exclusive Orchid flower show - each so beautiful, unique and gorgeously colored. You are right Sir they are indeed Bewitching!!

Vijayakrishnan

9/6/2016 10:03:33 pm

Dear Ragu,
lovely pictures of orchids. My day is made!
Affly,
Viji

BEWITCHING ORCHIDS

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Dr Raguram

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