XPATH | union operator question

hi,
i have a problem to understand why the following is happening:

###TODO
in the following xml: if the inner @color is there use it, otherwise use the outer @color

###XML
<test>
	<line color="outer1">
		<x color="inner1"/>
	</line>
</test>

so i tested the following XSLT:
###XSL
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
	<xsl:template match="/test">
		<out>
			<xsl:apply-templates/>
		</out>
	</xsl:template>
	<xsl:template match="line">
		<xsl:apply-templates/>
	</xsl:template>
	<xsl:template match="x">
			<xsl:value-of select="@color | parent::line/@color"/><br/>
			<xsl:value-of select="parent::line/@color | @color "/><br/>
			<xsl:value-of select="(@color | parent::line/@color)[1]"/><br/>
			<xsl:value-of select="(parent::line/@color | @color)[1] "/><br/>
	</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

###RESULT
<out>
	outer1<br />
	outer1<br />
	outer1<br />
	outer1<br />
</out>

i expected at least one inner1 to show up... 
or i expected "inner1outer1" as a result.

what does the | operator in "@color | parent::line/@color" select? only the most specific?

thanks a lot
chris

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