Orchid Fever

A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust, and Lunacy
by Eric Hansen

The acclaimed journalist and travel writer Eric Hansen chronicles a compelling adventure into the remarkable world of the orchid and the bizarre array of international characters who dedicate their lives to this alluring flower.

Orchids are used for everything from medicine for elephants to an aphrodisiac ice cream. A Malaysian species can grow to weigh half a ton while a South American species fires miniature pollen darts at nectar-sucking bees. But the orchid is also the center of an illicit international business. One grower in Santa Barbara tends his plants while toting an Uzi and a former collector has been in hiding for seven years after serving a jail sentence for smuggling thirty dollars worth of orchids into Britain. Deftly researched and written, Orchid Fever is a captivating tour of an exotic world.

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