Totally agree. The description is of a bulb plant and brings Gladiolus to mind.

From just the title, I expected to find a pic of a Protea flower.

Plants that fit your description have turned up recently at the grocery store. Haven't checked for their name but will do so when I go again.

That description got me thinking of either fuchsia or dicentra, but I've never seen either of them as a cut flower.

The description makes me think of some of the Campanulas.

Campanula... maybe. I think I found a photo of it, but it doesn't give any name or indicate the size!

It's here, from the Norton-Brown Herbarium: http://www.nbh.psla.umd.edu/guides/appendix4.html It's on that page, under Part 2, almost 1/3 of the way down the page, describing the word 'Urceolate'. That seems to be the flower, with the white color and pink blush rising from the tip. But as I look through Google Images for 'Urceolate flowers' and see that flower, it always leads straight back to the Norton-Brown Herbarium!

And, in retrospect, with the leaves in such poor shape, I suppose the flowers could have started out in a cluster, and she just pinched off the others as they deteriorated. *sigh* What kind of herbarium would use a plant as an example, and then not identify it???

That flower is not a Campanula, it's just a representative member of the Ericaceae such as Blueberry, Heather, or Pieris. You say your bloom was a single one on a stem and 1.5 inches long. That doesn't match any members of the Ericaceae I can think of.

Maybe a Fritillaria?

Or Calochortus? It's a stretch but at this point...

This is the grocery store plant, Medinilla magnifica. Probably too big to be your plant but interesting. I'd never seen it before. Can't seem to upload the photo. Google Medinilla magnifica in bud.

No, I can't find a Campanula that is similar.
Yes, it does appear that the Ericaceae family is closest, but as you say they aren't big enough and come in clusters.
And not Fritillaria or Medinilla, which have distinctively separated petals.
I am familiar with many types of flowers, but this one was so different for both its shape and larger size, that it puzzled me. And it may well continue to do so. 8-/

Thank you for all of your suggestions!

No pictures possible? There are so many members of ericaceae that vaguely match your description....

No pictures. I just saw the arrangement at the bank and asked the teller if she knew what this flower was. She said no. Oh, well, maybe someday I'll see one again... Thanks for all of the input!

It the bank could provide you with the name of the florist that supplied the arrangement, you could follow up on the id lead that way.

You can see we're not going to let this one go.... ;-) Could you sketch it? I'm not even sure I've understood the leaves correctly.

The second part of the photo problem is my computer illiteracy -- I don't know how to insert a photo. I'm from the 'olde dayes' of typewriters, liquid daub-on typo correction fluid, and carbon paper. *blush*

I don't think the flowers were from the bank, because only one lady had them. But I have to go to the P.O. tomorrow, and the bank is on the way, so maybe I will just have to stop and ask her, and then call the florist.

After all the looking I've been doing at 'bell-like' flowers, I'm beginning to think that I don't remember it correctly.

If you can take a photo on a digital camera or phone you can upload it to your computer. Once its on your computer just use the camera icon below the message box to show the picture in your message here.

Okay, I finally got down to the Safeway that sold the bouquet. The head woman didn't know what it was, couldn't venture a guess, and didn't care. So that's the end of that. I hate not knowing ......

I am wondering if this was an Orchid in bud?

I don't think so, as most of the orchids I've seen are heavier/fleshier than what I saw. But I'm not an expert on orchids. I was talking to a friend, and she did suggest that maybe it was SOMETHING that wasn't completely open yet, like a Campanula. But Campanulas tend to come in clusters, and this seemed like it was single. Oh, well.....