Regarding lapsang souchong (Adrian Chiles, 11 January), I still chuckle at the memory of when an elderly friend quickly rinsed a cup in the bowl of water used to wash up after the previous night’s supper of mackerel to give the visiting doctor a cup of tea. “Ah, the distinctive smoky aroma of lapsang souchong!” he said happily as he drank the builder’s tea she poured for him. He wasn’t contradicted.
Holly Anderson
Cambridge
• Re flowers that bloom entirely underground (Tree that lives underground among newly named plant species, 11 January), mention should be made of the ineffable Western Australian underground orchid (Rhizanthella gardneri). It lives underground in symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi.
Jane Gregory
Emsworth, Hampshire
