An orchid is a plant with flowers that are brightly coloured and unusually shaped — often with a lip in the middle, sometimes looking a little like a face, a moth, or a slipper. Many kinds grow in warm, wet places, some high on trees; others sit in pots in Taiwanese homes and flower shops, especially around the New Year. People think of orchids as elegant and a little special. Though actually, the name comes from a Greek word that also meant testicle, because the roots of some wild orchids look like a small round pair. Older English even called the plant ballockwort, “testicle-plant”; orchid is the later, politer name. You do not need that story to buy flowers, but that is where the word comes from.