ellipsoid glandular bodies

longtime ragbag bosom buddy, ramona has written in to tell us that both salep (the turkish drink made from orchid flour) and orchids themselves both derive from words meaning testicle. 

salep supposedly comes from the arabic phrase: ḥasyu al-tha`lab which means fox balls. orchid is of course from the greek word for testicle (three guesses what an orchidometer measures or what an orchidectomy involves removing).

you would think that a flower as dainty as the orchid would be associated with feminine organs, but that is only because you are looking at the top half of the plant. once you start digging down below, you will quickly find yourself cupping a hairy pair of root nuggets.

who want’s to be the georgia o’keeffe of a flower’s bottom half?

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ramona also tells us, a little too excitedly if you ask me, that avocado is the nahuatl word for the same little dangling sperm balloons, and if you said the word to a proper nahua spinster, she would probably die of extreme mortification on the spot.