Break the 41,807 GBIF records for the bee orchid down by month and the shape is almost comic in its clarity. January 640, February 965, March 854, April 2,379. Then May 12,966 and June 21,201. Then July collapses to 977, August to 58, September to 27. Photo: Bob Helson, via GBIF (CC0) May and June together account for 82% of every record ever logged. That is a flowering season drawn straight from observation data, without anyone consulting a field guide.

A florist’s window in Poland, the board behind it advertising seasonal work and funeral arrangements. There is plenty in the frame: anthuriums, garden roses, peonies, chrysanthemums, tulips at the bottom, statice off to the right. None of it registers. The cream Phalaenopsis spray comes forward and turns everything else into background. Growers know the effect without needing it explained. It is worth pulling apart anyway, because the reasons are structural rather than aesthetic, and because they explain the odd shape of the trade that has grown up around this genus.