resupinate

After some months of dormancy, my little orchid again budded and came into full bloom. These flowers have a very specific and peculiar architecture, and there are more kinds of orchids than there are different species of birds and are closely related to asparagus. Resupination refers to the structurally downward facing dog yoga pose that the parts of the flower assumes as it develops and suggests being upside down, though almost all flowers grow this way so I wonder upside down to what.

My orchid does not display the advanced and a little smug mimicry of this wild cultivar (evolved, coerced to look like something it’s never seen) but I can certainly see the family resemblance.