Orchidelirium, also called orchidomaniaororchid fever, is the name given to the Victorian era's flower madness for collecting and discovering orchids. Wealthy orchid fanatics of the 19th century sent explorers and collectors to almost every part of the world in search of new varieties and species of orchids.[1]
Orchidelirium is seen as similar to Dutch tulip mania. Today there still exists some levels of orchid madness, that has some times resulted in theft of exceptional orchids among collectors such as the Ghost Orchid.[2]
In the 19th century, Orchids were brought to Europe through collecting expeditions. Initially the craze was limited to the European upper classes. New exotic orchids were most often sold at auction in London, fetching extravagant prices. The rich spent a fortune on orchids that died due to unsuitable conditions.[3]
Commissioned collectors traveled all over the world for months in search of new species. Many died on these expeditions due to conflict with locals or rival orchid-hunters engaged in destructive behaviours. These expensive expeditions were often shrouded in secrecy and it was not unusual for collectors to spread misleading information about the locations where new orchids were found.[4]
During this time very little was known about the cultivation of orchids and their survival rate was dismal. Through experimentation and by gathering more information on the growing conditions of orchids in their natural habitat, knowledge was slowly being developed and by 1851 B.S. Williams published the first edition of The Orchid Grower's Manual (London 1871).
Culturally, man-eating plant mythos was developed throughout the nineteenth century around plants foreign to European audiences which were introduced due to importation, like orchids. Examples of Victorian tales with vampiric orchids are H.G. Wells' 1894 short story The Flowering of the Strange Orchid and Fred M. White's 1898 The Purple Terror.[5]
Today, international trading of orchids harvested in the wild is now banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) adopted in 1973. Still many orchid species are endangered. Orchid smuggling is thought to contribute to the loss of some species of orchid in the wild.
This Wikipedia article incorporates text from Orchidelirium: when love turns to obsession (4 August 2021) published by the State Library of Queensland under CC BY licence, accessed on 22 September 2021.