'right'...what we are looking at when we look at most orchid flowers with
the lip on the 'bottom' are flowers that are turned upside down. But I
didn't want to go there either. I threw in the word tepal and that was bad
enough. The one botonical word Peloric causes sufficeint confusion without
piling resupinate and nonresupinate on top of it. :-)

I like words. I like using them correctly. Here's hoping everyone has
forgotten about the wench and the augur.

"Myrmecodia" wrote in message
om...
"Al" wrote in message
...
With regard to the three flower parts of the inner whorl; the two petals
and
the lip. Evolution has changed the 'bottom' petal into a lip.

Great post! Just a minor nitpick: It is the upper petal that is
converted into the lip. Most orchid buds twist 180 degrees before
they open, so that the lip moves to the bottom of the open flower.
Some orchids do not twist, and the lip remains where it started, at
the top. But perhaps that's why you put 'bottom' in quotes...

Nick