We’re not experts on orchids, but what’s not to love about these amazing flowers? If you’re an orchid fan you’ll enjoy this story we came across recently, courtesy of National Geographic.
It seems to me there’s a primeval quality to orchid blooms which could have easily helped inspire James Cameron in creating the out-of-this-world botanical landscape on the fictional planet Pandora in his movie Avatar. Having sat awestruck through his movie, that came to mind for me when I also read a fantastic essay by Carol Kaesuk Yoon in the New York Times, titled ‘Luminous 3-D Jungle Is a Biologist’s Dream’.
We live in a cynical, jaded world nowadays, but Kaesuk makes an eloquent case that what Cameron’s movie does, among many things, is revive our sense of fascination and wonder for the natural world. Whether you think the movie is good, bad or indifferent, if you see it and read Kaesuk’s essay, I think you’ll find it hard to disagree. It’s also a reminder of why we like the orchid story.