The Lost Orchid
A Story of Victorian Plunder and Obsession
A fascinating history of the nineteenth-century frenzy surrounding an exotic flower, The Lost Orchid is about Victorian imperialism, ecological devastation, and climate change.
The “Queen of the Orchids” is rare and beautiful, with a large purple-crimson bloom. British naturalist William Swainson was the first Westerner to discover the flower in 1817, during an expedition to South America. His discovery was obscured, however, by the fact that he kept no records about where he found the orchid and may not even have realized what he had until it bloomed the following year. As word spread about the orchid’s beauty, it became one of the most coveted prizes during the orchidomania of the Victorian era. The plant could be propagated—slowly—in greenhouses, but intense demand inspired explorers from Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Scotland, and other nations to search the South American jungles for the source of the orchid. Seventy-five years after Swainson’s find, the “lost” orchid was finally rediscovered in the high altitudes of northern Brazil.
The book describes the intense competition among explorers who faced disease and other hardships in their search for the elusive orchid; the economic expansion of orchid markets in Europe, the US, and colonial Asia; the influence of Charles Darwin, William Hooker, and other naturalists on the orchid trade; and the literature that promoted the flowers’ mystique—including popular magazines, volumes of botanical illustrations, eerie fiction by H. G. Wells, and children’s books. Emphasizing the environmental and social costs of the search, the book describes the decimation of Indigenous populations and the destruction of Brazilian forests in the construction of plantations, mines, cattle ranches, railroads, and roadways.
Enthralling, authoritative, and discerning, The Lost Orchid is a brilliant account of the Victorian obsession over an exotic flower and the environmental destruction that resulted from Western imperialism.
Reviewed by
Kristen Rabe
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