21
" This here is a Trachycarpus fortunei. A Chinese windmill palm."
The fans bounced up and down as they were released from the burlap, cooling Exley and me like we were on a veranda in South China.
"Sugar comes from the sap of this plant," he said. "And upholstery stuffing, too. Hairbrushes, paint varnish, rosary beads, chess pieces, hats, dress buttons, hot-water bottles, margarine, cooking oils, shampoos, conditioners, cosmetics, moisturizers, doormats, soap, tin cans, and starch for Laundromats. It all comes from the palm tree. "
― Margot Berwin , Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
23
" He opened his hand, and inside was a tiny lavender-colored flower with a small stem.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here. Mr. Exley left us a present. Cichorium intybus. Chicory. The plant of freedom and one of the nine plants. He used it to get out of the basement, and then he left us a cutting as a courtesy. Your Mr. Exley has a good sense of humor."
"He's not my Mr. Exley."
"Unimportant. This little petal tells us how he got out of here."
"He broke a deadbolt with a flower petal?"
"In a sense, yes. Cichorium intybus is a perennial related to the dandelion. It's cultivated in England and Ireland and from Nova Scotia to Florida and west to the plains. It is not cultivated here, in South America. He brought it with him!"
"For what?"
"For its magical properties. The plant has a long, thick taproot filled with a bitter milky-white juice. The ancient Egyptians believed that if the juice is rubbed on the body it promotes invisibility, and removal of obstacles. The Mayans called it the plant of freedom, for the same reason. "
― Margot Berwin , Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
27
" Cacao
(Theobroma cacao)
Theobroma cacao, translated from the Greek to mean "food of the gods," is one plant that will never let you down. Through the good times and the bad, in times of high anxiety and too much stress, during relationship problems when it seems that all of the passion is gone, when there is no one around to talk to, or when no one will listen, understand, or believe in you, Theobroma cacao, otherwise known as chocolate, is always there to make you feel better. "
― Margot Berwin , Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
33
" The model stripped down naked and stood with her arms out to her sides while genderless cohorts sprayed her body with large silver canisters of foundation. They wore masks over there faces and sprayed her from head to toe like they were putting out a fire. They airbrushed her into a mono-toned six-foot-two column of a human being with no visible veins, nipples, nails, lips, or eyelashes. When every single thing that was real about the model was gone, the make up artist fug through a suite case of brushes and plowed through hundreds of tubes of flesh colored colors and began to draw human features onto her face. At the same time, the hair stylist meticulously sewed with a needle and thread strand after strand of long blond hairs onto her thin light brown locks, creating a thick full mane of shimmering gold. The model had brought her own chef, who cooked her spinach soup from scratch. The soup was fed to her by one of her lackeys, who existed solely for this purpose. The blond boy stood in front of her, blowing on the soup and then feeding it to her from a small silver child's spoon, just big enough to fit between her lips. the model's mouth was barely open, maybe a quarter of an inch wide, so that she would not crack the flesh colored paint. "
― Margot Berwin , Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
38
" I twirled it around in front of my eyes, going momentarily cross-eyed as I looked for any sign of roots. Of course it was much too soon, and I knew that there wouldn't be any, but I checked anyway, because I'm a checker by nature: lights, stoves, occasionally underneath beds, and, apparently, now plant stems. Life was getting complicated. "
― Margot Berwin , Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire
