THE LOST ORCHID

A tale of botany and greed.

Novelist and literary scholar Bilston investigates the complexities of the international orchid trade, which became so frenzied in the 19th century that it was known as orchidomania and even orchidelirium. Although many types of orchids were prized, Bilston focuses on one particular variety, brought from Brazil by a naturalist in 1818, later dubbed Cattleya labiata for its purple markings and “pronounced crimson lip.” Its appearance evoked “women, sexuality, desire”; its rarity made it especially coveted, central to a quest that involved explorers, naturalists, businessmen, speculators, reporters, and illustrators; ships and railways; laboratories, herbaria, and auction houses. The orchid business was not only about horticulture, although the desire for orchids spurred innovations in hybridization, “a controversial practice,” Bilston notes, “with grave implications. It seemed, to many, to lead humans dangerously into the realm of the divine.” Hybrids, although making orchids available to the masses, did not evoke the romance of C. labiata. Imported orchids, wrested from their native habitat by intrepid plant hunters, were better able “to satisfy human fancies, urges, and needs—to signal wealth and power, or connoisseurship, or modernity, or attachment to the past, or scientific acumen.” Bilston depicts the many obstacles facing these plant hunters, including treacherous terrain, devastating environmental damage, and political unrest. Wealthy Victorians were not the only ones coveting orchids: Darwin was fascinated by their structure, evolution, and especially their intricate process of fertilization. “I am convinced,” he remarked, “that orchids have a wicked power of witchcraft.” Besides Darwin, among the many naturalists who appear in Bilston’s well-populated history are Charles Lyell and Joseph Hooker. Drawing on abundant archival sources in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Bilston conveys in colorful detail the “chaotic urgency” of the feverish pursuit of a remarkable epiphyte.

A vibrant natural history.