The term ‘orchid’ derives from the Greek ορχις orchis, meaning “testicle”, from the appearance of subterranean tuberoids of the genus Orchis. The Victorians had a name for orchid obsession: Orchidelirium.
Victorian orchid hunters travelled thousands of miles to find one of the world’s rarest species and to bring it home. In 1917, the lady’s slipper orchid was officially declared extinct.
The mania for orchid-collecting during Victorian times, had simply been too much for it. With only a single specimen surviving in the wild, the lady’s slipper orchid is today Britain’s rarest, and most heavily guarded, flower. Their locations are being kept top secret for fear: English Nature conservationists are aware of would-be thieves touting for business on the internet, by offering to steal the rarest orchids to order. More: Orchidelirium strikes everywhere. Police are on the hunt after more than 600 protected orchids were stolen from a nature reserve in the marshes of the Orlické Mountains region. The theft, discovered June 26, is the first in the area and is believed to be the largest of its kind in Czech history.
There are more then 30,000 different species in the wild, and 300,000 hybrids available. But the favourites species are proper relics from the wild genetic past: SOUTHERN MARSH ORCHID, LADY’S SLIPPER, EAST STAR-OF-BETHLEHEM, DIAPENSIA LAPPONICA, KILLARNEY FERN, SPRING GENTIAN. People have died for them, and still go to jail for them because there will always be thieves with trowels and pots all over the world. And a Black Market, of course…
My Favourite one is Black Orchids Rex Todhunter Stout novel, where the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe goes to the flower show and …..
