5
" The oil smelled floral and musky, like a flowery animal.
She kept right on stroking my body.
"It has lilac, jasmine, and musk from a rutting deer," she said.
The words for the ingredients excited me. Lilac, jasmine, and musk, I said to myself. Lilac, jasmine, and musk, I must. Lilac, jasmine, and musk, I must. They sounded like an incantation. They sounded like the sexiest words in the English language. "
― Margot Berwin , Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
6
" I drank Datura inoxia and traveled with the black panther to find the antidote."
"And you saw the energy lines of the trees."
"How do you know?"
"Because I know."
"I smelled the lily of the valley, up close, but the scent of your skin is still sweeter."
"Not as sweet as yours."
"I danced with a rattlesnake."
"There are many of those in life."
"And then, under a flash of lightning, a tree caught fire and I found the bromeliad with no name."
"How strange that a tree caught fire in the rain forest. It's very wet in there."
"I found the plant of passion. The tenth plant."
"You found it with your passion. You set the tree on fire with your passion."
"I love you."
"I love you, too," he said.
"And that is the story of us."
"It is."
"It's true, then, whoever finds the nine plants really does find what they desire."
"It's true."
"Let's say them together."
We began.
"Moonflower, gloxinia, cycad, Theobroma cacao, mandrake, chicory, sinsemilla, Datura inoxia, lily of the valley, and the tenth plant. The bromeliad. The passion plant with no name. "
― Margot Berwin , Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
7
" Is that an orchid?" I asked, pointing to a particularly unattractive small brown plant.
"Maxillaria tenuifolia," said Sonali. "One of my favorites. This little brown orchid is a species. Not as spectacular as a hybrid, but very satisfying nonetheless. Its charms are quite powerful. Come closer and smell it."
I leaned over the ugly brown plant.
"Coconut pie! How is that possible?"
"Wonderful, isn't it? She doesn't need bright, flashy colors or spectacular sprays of flowers. Her pollinators, the moths, come out at night. She uses her coconut scent to guide and entice the little moth in much the way we use perfume to entice men in nightclubs and cafés."
Sonali winked at me.
"You can learn much about how an orchid is pollinated by the way it looks. White, pink, and pale-green flowers usually get pollinated at night, since those colors are easily seen under moonlight. The little moth sneaks up on the flower in the middle of the night like a lover. He lands on her, pollinates her, and then leaves. We've all had that experience, yes?"
"Yes," I said, thinking of Exley.
"Brightly colored orchids, on the other hand, are pollinated by butterflies and birds. Butterflies prefer red and orange. Bees love orange and yellow all the way through to ultraviolet."
"Just like certain men like certain color clothing," I said.
"Yes, colored petals are the clothing of flowers. The insect must find a way through those petals to get what he wants, like a man brushing his hand through the layers of a woman's skirt. "
― Margot Berwin , Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
8
" Mandrake is medicinal because the root contains an alkaloid that belongs to the atropine group. It's a powerful narcotic and analgesic, and, in larger doses, a superb anesthetic. It's magical because of the bizarre shape of the root, which looks like a human being, sometimes male, sometimes female. This root can and will exercise supernatural power over the human body and mind. It's both an aphrodisiac and a strong hallucinogen. Think about it. Those two things together can create the most mind-bending sex you're ever likely to have. And babies, too. In the book of Genesis, the barren Rachel eats the root and becomes pregnant with Joseph. The plant produces out-of-body experiences in some susceptible people, and a vastly increased sex drive in almost all men."
"Sounds good to me."
"A lot of people think so. Folks love to experiment with the mandrake. The problem is that it's poisonous in the wrong doses, and, too often to mention, people end up sick, or worse. They forget that the mandrake is in the family Solanaceae, similar to deadly nightshade. "
― Margot Berwin , Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
14
" The Luna Maria
The moon has two distinct terrains, the very old highlands, and the younger, smoother maria. The maria are lunar seas formed by impact craters striking the surface of the moon, but that's not their most interesting feature. Even more fascinating are the names that astronauts and physicists have given to the maria. These include Sea of Tranquility, Sea of Serenity, Sea of Fertility, Sea of Storms, Sea of Peace, and Sea of Clouds.
Why is it that, with such romantic and imaginative names for the seas of the moon, the seas on earth get stuck with Black Sea, Red Sea, North Sea, and Baltic Sea? "
― Margot Berwin , Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
