Orchid
A Cultural History
9780226376325
9780226427034
Orchid
A Cultural History
At once delicate, exotic, and elegant, orchids are beloved for their singular, instantly recognizable beauty. Found in nearly every climate, the many species of orchid have carried symbolic weight in countless cultures over time. The ancient Greeks associated them with fertility and thought that parents who ingested orchid root tubers could control the sex of their child. During the Victorian era, orchids became deeply associated with romance and seduction. And in twentieth-century hard-boiled detective stories, they transformed into symbols of decadence, secrecy, and cunning. What is it about the orchid that has enthralled the imagination for so many centuries? And why do they still provoke so much wonder?
Following the stories of orchids throughout history, Jim Endersby divides our attraction to them into four key themes: science, empire, sex, and death. When it comes to empire, for instance, orchids are a prime example of the exotic riches sought by Europeans as they shaped their plans for colonization. He also reveals how Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution became intimately entangled with the story of the orchid as he investigated their methods of cross-pollination. As he shows, orchids—perhaps because of their extraordinarily diverse colors, shapes, and sizes—have also bloomed repeatedly in films, novels, plays, and poems, from Shakespeare to science fiction, from thrillers to elaborate modernist novels.
Featuring many gorgeous illustrations from the collection of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Orchid: A Cultural History tells, for the first time, the extraordinary story of orchids and our prolific interest in them. It is an enchanting tale not only for gardeners and plant collectors, but anyone curious about the flower’s obsessive hold on the imagination in history, cinema, literature, and more.
Following the stories of orchids throughout history, Jim Endersby divides our attraction to them into four key themes: science, empire, sex, and death. When it comes to empire, for instance, orchids are a prime example of the exotic riches sought by Europeans as they shaped their plans for colonization. He also reveals how Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution became intimately entangled with the story of the orchid as he investigated their methods of cross-pollination. As he shows, orchids—perhaps because of their extraordinarily diverse colors, shapes, and sizes—have also bloomed repeatedly in films, novels, plays, and poems, from Shakespeare to science fiction, from thrillers to elaborate modernist novels.
Featuring many gorgeous illustrations from the collection of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Orchid: A Cultural History tells, for the first time, the extraordinary story of orchids and our prolific interest in them. It is an enchanting tale not only for gardeners and plant collectors, but anyone curious about the flower’s obsessive hold on the imagination in history, cinema, literature, and more.
288 pages | 15 color plates, 45 halftones | 6 1/14 x 9 1/14 | © 2016
Biological Sciences: Botany, Natural History
History: General History
Reviews
Table of Contents
Introduction: Imagining Orchids
1 Censored Origins
The Lesbian Boy
The Uses of Orchids
2 Red Book, Black Flower
Utopian Botany
The Signature of All Things
3 The Name of the Orchid
Making a Family
A Second Adam
Artificial to Natural
Myths of Orchids
4 Orchidmania
The Blooming Aristocracy
5 Orchis Bank
Every Trifling Detail
Beautiful Contrivances
6 The Scramble for Orchids
Lost Orchids
Cannibal Tales
7 Savage Orchids
Long Purples and a Forked Radish
Queer Flowers
Creation and Consolation
8 Sexy Orchids
Boy’s Own Orchids
9 Manly Orchids
Frail Orchids
10 Deceptive Orchids
Orchids in Orbit
11 Endangered Orchids
Fragile Specialists
The Spider Orchids of Sussex
Conclusion: An Orchid’s-Eye View?
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
1 Censored Origins
The Lesbian Boy
The Uses of Orchids
2 Red Book, Black Flower
Utopian Botany
The Signature of All Things
3 The Name of the Orchid
Making a Family
A Second Adam
Artificial to Natural
Myths of Orchids
4 Orchidmania
The Blooming Aristocracy
5 Orchis Bank
Every Trifling Detail
Beautiful Contrivances
6 The Scramble for Orchids
Lost Orchids
Cannibal Tales
7 Savage Orchids
Long Purples and a Forked Radish
Queer Flowers
Creation and Consolation
8 Sexy Orchids
Boy’s Own Orchids
9 Manly Orchids
Frail Orchids
10 Deceptive Orchids
Orchids in Orbit
11 Endangered Orchids
Fragile Specialists
The Spider Orchids of Sussex
Conclusion: An Orchid’s-Eye View?
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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