Who would have thought ...?

It doesn't seem very long ago that to see, let alone to own, a tropical orchid was a rare privilege; now, of course, the garden centres and supermarkets are awash with them. Life is getting better in some ways!

Orchids get their name from the Greek word orchis, meaning 'testicle', because of the testicular shape of the paired subterranean tubers of some species. Thus it is, that whereas we common folk refer to castration, the medical profession prefer the term orchidectomy