- No.
- G-0201
- Fam.
- Orchidaceae
- Loc.
- Greenhouse auction, Liberec
- Leg.
- Purchased anonymously, 2011
G-0201GlasshouseOrchidaceae
Correspondence Orchid
Dendrobium epistolare
Under cultivationAn orchid whose petals carry faint handwriting — always a letter of thanks, never to anyone the gardener knows.
- Collected at
- Greenhouse auction, Liberec
- Date
- 2011
- Collector
- Purchased anonymously
- Anomalies
- Encoded messageMimicry
Sequenced fragment
TAGCATCGATCGTAGCTAGCATGCAAGCTTGCAAGCTTGCTAGCATCGATCGATGCA
Description
A white orchid about 6 cm across, with three narrow outer sepals, two broader side petals and a ruffled lip marked pale yellow at the throat. The petals carry faint purple veining, and the slender green-brown stem is about 4 cm long.
Observations
Under magnification the veining resolves into cursive handwriting: short, sincere notes of thanks, signed with first names.
Genetic analysis
The pigment-deposition genes are ordered in a pattern resembling the stroke order of handwritten Latin script. No other orchid has this arrangement.
Cultivation
Blooms twice a year. Each bloom carries a new letter.
Effects
None known, beyond a general tendency among staff to write more thank-you notes.
Filed alongside
Cartographer's Root
Daucus itinerans
A wild carrot whose taproot grows in the exact shape of the route to wherever its seed was collected.
Hollow Elm
Ulmus testamenta
An elm whose growth rings record the last words spoken near it each year — and which has started recording words that have not been spoken yet.
Honest-Signal Saw-Sedge
Cladium mariscus
A stand of saw-sedge in the Brière left lapwings unable to fake a broken wing and a guest's setter unable to play, until a hotel paved it over.