The Ghost Orchid

Ghost orchids (Dendrophylax lindenii) are rare. Not only are they shaped differently from most flowers, they are also endangered and are now protected under international law from modern day orchid thieves.  Image by Mick Fournier [AP]

Pollination is done by the giant sphinx moth, the only local insect with a long enough proboscis as first discovered by Charles Darwin. 

Few people have come closer to understanding the mysterious allure of the orchid than US author Susan Orlean. She discovered the world of orchids when she wrote an article for the New Yorker magazine about a Florida orchid grower and lover arrested for taking rare orchids out of a protected swamp. She went on to write a non fiction book about the case and the wider world of orchid lovers called the Orchid Thief which was made into a fictional movie, Adaptation.

“Orchids are psychologically intriguing,” she says. “They have a quality that goes well beyond the surface attraction and there is no question that there is something about orchids that makes them very complex and interesting,” she says.

She says they seem to provoke strong feelings in people, even sparking an obsessive love affair with some people from the moment they encounter their first orchid. “ There is almost a kind of pride about how crazy you get over orchids.”

She says orchids can seem almost more like creatures than plants, blooming for many months in pots and taking on shapes that resemble animals or people or body parts. “Orchids are just weird, that is part of what makes them interesting, and makes them compelling in a different way than most other flowers.”

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