Orchid Fever: A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust, and Lunacy - Softcover

With such willing customers, it's no wonder that a thriving black market now exists. To serve it, orchids are taken illegally from sensitive ecological areas in places like Thailand, Borneo, and darkest Minnesota. In scenes reminiscent of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, Hansen follows the trail of orchid smugglers, pursuing money and plants in a whodunit tale that involves botanical gardens, scholars, scientists, ordinary enthusiasts, and "plant cops"--international eco-police whose job it is to stop the traffic in rare and often endangered plants. Those vigilantes have their work cut out for them, Hansen writes, especially because some of the current laws may be misguided, causing more harm than good and equating honest breeders with botanical desperadoes. The laws are bound to fail in any event, he suggests, if only because the plant trade, like that of the drug trade, is simply too big to curtail.

Orchid enthusiasts and admirers of good journalism alike will find plenty of interest in Hansen's vivid, richly anecdotal investigation. --Gregory McNamee

"In my 40 years as an orchid scientist, author and book editor, I have never read anything quite like Orchid Fever. It is part absurdist black humor and part horticultural expose. Mr. Hansen displays a rare talent for capturing the allure of orchids, describing the dubious characters who lurk in the shadows, and exposing the small handful of self-appointed power brokers who rule the orchid world. Frightening, funny and full of tantalizing insider knowledge. And yes...there are strange and wonderful stories about orchids as well."
-- Dr. Joseph Arditti, Editor, Orchid Biology, UC Irvine

"A story about greed, tragic comic bureaucracy and a most peculiar obsession that I still find hard to believe. Told with great style and sardonic wit."
-- Marc Reisner, author of Cadillac Desert

"Orchid Fever is a tale that cross-pollinates Darwin and Conrad. A vivid and compelling investigation of how simple flowers can lure strong minds to madness."
--Joe Kane, author of Running the Amazon and Savages