Black Orchids in Fiction and Reality

For centuries, flower enthusiasts, poets, and the merely maudlin have all sought a truly black flower -- the kind you'd expect to find growing in a cemetery. When the orchid craze struck Europe during the 19th century, there was a great deal of speculation about the potential discovery of a black orchid, yet it proved as elusive as the black tulips people had been trying to breed for many years.

“Alas, no truly black flower of any kind has ever been described.” This is some of what Orchids.org has to say about the mysterious black orchid. What is it about a black flower that has captured the imagination of so many? But capture imaginations it has.

In addition to a list of orchids that are dark in color, (generally ranging from purples to browns) that have been nicknamed Black Orchids, Wikipedia says:

• Black Orchid - a character from DC Comics
• Black Orchid - a Doctor Who serial
• Black Orchid - 1953 film with Ronald Howard
• Black Orchid - 1958 film with Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn
• Black Orchid - an Australian gothic metal band
• Black Orchid - a character in the video game Killer Instinct
• Black Orchids- a Nero Wolfe double mystery by Rex Stout

And if you go to Amazon.com, you can find an additional list of books—both fiction and non-fiction-- that have the words “Black Orchid” in, or as, the title. Not to mention the new fragrance by Tom Ford, who says he found a Swiss orchid breeder who had one of these highly sought after orchid plants that he used to create his scent.

But the Maxillaria schunkeana may be the closest thing to a true black orchid.