Orchid Fever: A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust, and Lunacy

asked by heavymetal on November 22, 2006 11:45 PM

At first blush, the subtitle of intrepid traveler Eric Hansen's floral account might seem, well, hyperbolic. After taking this whirlwind tour of the hidden world of rare orchid collectors, the reader will find the words well chosen. Hansen invites us into a strange demimonde of intrigue and desire, at the center of which is the orchid, that shadowy and somewhat sinister parasitic oddball of the plant kingdom. Orchid raising and trading is big business. Worldwide, the retail economy in orchids adds up to some $9 billion; in the United States, wholesalers ship nearly 8.5 million plants a year, while in Holland a single nursery produces 18 million. "Several million people worldwide now grow orchids," the author notes, "and this botanical craze has already eclipsed both the nineteenth-century frenzy for orchids as well as the tulip madness that gripped the Netherlands in the seventeenth century."

With such willing customers, it's no wonder that a thriving black market now exists. To serve it, orchids are taken illegally from sensitive ecological areas in places like Thailand, Borneo, and darkest Minnesota. In scenes reminiscent of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, Hansen follows the trail of orchid smugglers, pursuing money and plants in a whodunit tale that involves botanical gardens, scholars, scientists, ordinary enthusiasts, and "plant cops"--international eco-police whose job it is to stop the traffic in rare and often endangered plants. Those vigilantes have their work cut out for them, Hansen writes, especially because some of the current laws may be misguided, causing more harm than good and equating honest breeders with botanical desperadoes. The laws are bound to fail in any event, he suggests, if only because the plant trade, like that of the drug trade, is simply too big to curtail.

Orchid enthusiasts and admirers of good journalism alike will find plenty of interest in Hansen's vivid, richly anecdotal investigation. --Gregory McNamee

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Reviews

I can not imagine this book getting too many one star ratings. A similar book on the same subject, "Orchid Thief" portrays the wackiness of Americans crazed by Orchid collecting, but America takes 2nd place in this book that gives a worldwide view of the extremes
Orchid collectors go to, to pursue the object of their desire. The author's style is extemely entertaining, and it shows that much globe trotting and investigative work went into obtaining material for this book. The author hears a rumor that in Turkey children can jump rope with a concoction made from orchids and this rope can be made into a type of orchid ice cream. The author is off to Turkey for some detective work, or pursuing a reclusive Orchid theif for an interview.
One of the main points of this book is that often these orchid fanatics are considered shady characters by the international Orchid conservation groups and their CITES law. The spirit and the results of CITES law seems to be at cross-purposes. The CITES regulations are actually preventing wild samples from being shipped to areas where they can be studied and propagated. Making natural pockets of rare orchids even more valuable. The author gives numerous examples of rare Orchids in their natural locations becoming a victim of a third world country's development program, logging, or highway construction which the CITES laws are powerless to stop. All in All an excellent book the brings to light a bizarre interesting world that some people are caught up in.

reviewed by benzdrives on November 26, 2006 2:07 PM

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Eric Hansen is an author who seeks out that which is foreign to the Average American or Western European. His "Motoring with Mohammed" and "Stranger in the Forest" fascinate because of their exotic cultures and locations. "Orchid Fever," on the other hand, focuses on the intersection between the Western and the exotic, and our culture is the one that comes off as strange and illogical. The locus of that intersection is the orchid and its cultivation. The cultural structures, the bureaucratic labyrinths, the idiosyncratic obsessions associated with this family of plants is almost . . . almost . . . unbelievable. It's typical Hansen: excellent prose, strange worlds.

reviewed by steelers on November 28, 2006 11:17 PM

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A very entertaining and engrossing look at those interesting individuals in love with orchids. The book also gives some examples of CITES which is a law designed to protect endangered animal and plant species. However if what Mr. Hansen writes is true the law just doesn't work the way it's supposed to. Quite an insightful and thought-provoking work.

There is also some excellent info. on the very diverse species of orchids which makes it easy to understand why these flowers are so addictive to some people.

reviewed by shagdag on November 29, 2006 8:48 AM

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add a new book!