Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 3201, 21 July 1915, Page 11

At, the international flower show in New York the most interesting exhibit was a moth orchid growing in a human skull. The skull is that of an old tribal chief of the Philippine Islands, who was killed 40 years ago by Guanu, a Suriage chief, for stealing one of the latter’s wives. Guanu kept the skull as a trophy until his death, when it was placed upon Gnanu’s grave as a tombstone. An orchid took root, and as the flower bloomed it was zealously guarded by the natives, who thought the orchid was the spirit of their chief. In the year lto2 a traveller passing through tha village saw the freak, stole it from the natives, and sent it to a florist. The expansion of the roots_ had caused the frontal bone to crack. The roots extend down through the skull, and can he seen through the nasal cavity and beneath the jaw.