Black Orchid (not)

Black Orchid (not) September 2005 | Filed under Flora, Photos, Travel | Comments (9)

One of many crazy flowers spotted at Brief, the garden of Bevis Bawa in Bentota (do you think he was purposefully alliterative?)

Update: I've just received word that this is not, in fact, an orchid (which was unfortunately the closest word in my limited botanical vocabulary to describe it with) - it's a Tacca, also known as a 'bat flower' (cute). My correspondant also informs me that "the long hairs coming off the flower are a dead giveaway. No orchid has anything like that. Also, unless orchids are dyed, their leaves are always green. Unless they aren't. OK, so there is a variety of orchid that exclusively derives its fod from fungus on dead material. And another has enough chlorophyll in the stems that the leaves are miniscule scales." So there you go.

Views from the Floor

karen cartwright says:

Hi do you know the name of this orchid at all. Its so beautiful!!!

Vanessa Hughes says:

Actually some orchids have the stringy petals. Check out bulbophyllum medusae, although you are right this is not an orchid, but easy to se where the confusion comes from.

Melissa Clancy says:

You said : "OK, so there is a variety of orchid that exclusively derives its food from fungus on dead material."

I can't seem to find this orchid. Do you recall the name of it? Thanks bunches. Namaste

lolita says:

The name of that flower is the Black Bat :)

Haloma Roos says:

I most definitely want one? where can I buy it in South Africa?

Dana Hylton says:

There actually IS an orchid that has long "hairs" so the person that told you that it's a dead giveaway is wrong check out the Cirrhopetalum Medusae sp Orchid

Christina says:

Hello people!!!!!!!!!!!
I like this flower.
don't you like it
it is just so cool
i am going to Belize just to see
one personally
wooooooooow!!!!!!!!!!
This is COOL!!!!!!!!!!!

Christina says:

Hello people!!!!!!!!!!!
I like this flower.
don't you like it
it is just so cool
i am going to Belize just to see
one personally
wooooooooow!!!!!!!!!!
This is COOL!!!!!!!!!!!

Christina says:

Hello people!!!!!!!!!!!
I like this flower.
don't you like it
it is just so cool
i am going to Belize just to see
one personally
wooooooooow!!!!!!!!!!
This is COOL!!!!!!!!!!!

Speak, friend, and enter


Edit Entry

This sentence is not modelled on a luxury yacht

11 January 2008
Filed under Language, Text, The Media

People paid up to $US100,000 ($A115,000) for the inaugural Singapore Airlines A380 flight last year, in which first class suites with real beds were modelled on luxury yachts, after wiring glitches caused the plane’s delivery to be delayed by two years, causing EADS billions of dollars in losses.

This sentence was already too long when they decided to add the bit about the beds. Why on earth is it relevant, when reporting on an airport mishap, to note that the beds on the plane involved were modelled on luxury yachts?*

It’s a really common construction in stories coming straight off the wires and into the paper: you have the story, which is usually two or three short paragraphs, followed by a gargantuan sentence into which somebody has packed the entire history of the subject, with no regard to whether the clauses in the sentence relate to each other or to the story at large.

* Update: I can’t read.

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