Public Obsession Drove Development of Orchid Industry

When British horticulturists brought the first tropical orchids back to England and Western Europe in the early 1800s, the exotic plants were an overnight sensation. The well-publicized blossoming of a lavender cattleya launched a seemingly insatiable demand for these unique flowers. The public became so obsessed with the beauty of these new plants that the word “orchidelirium” was coined to describe the hysterical mania that overtook the most obsessed orchid fanciers. The strength of the public’s obsession with orchids and the exorbitant prices collectors were willing to pay for new varieties turned orchid growing into a big -- and incredibly lucrative -- business nearly overnight.

Financed by wealthy collectors and greedy commercial growers, orchid hunters were commissioned to scour the tropical forests of South America and Southeast Asia for new orchid species. Thousands of plants were stripped from their native homes and shipped to Europe to feed the public’s insatiable hunger for orchids. Orchid hunters frequently risked their lives to search out and bring back rare new orchids. Historical accounts tell of hunters who embarked on dangerous voyages, suffered through frightening tropical diseases, and often barely escaped cannibalistic natives, all for the sake of a simple flower – and, of course, the extravagant prices it would fetch on the European market.

Unlike any other flower known to Western Europe, orchids were prized for their ethereal beauty, but their rarity also drove up their value. While thousands of orchids were shipped to Europe, the deplorable conditions under which the plants were packed and shipped did nothing to decrease their rarity. Dug from the ground and stripped from tree branches in equatorial lands, orchids were packed into crates and carried to ports where they could sit for weeks waiting for a passing ship to transport them to Europe. Few orchids survived, adding to their rarity.

Photo credit: Roy Luck