Orchid Muse: A History of Obsession in Fifteen Flowers

by Erica Hannickel

Longlisted for the 2023 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award



A kaleidoscopic journey into the world of nature’s most tantalizing flower, and the lives it has inspired.


The epitome of floral beauty, orchids have long fostered works of art, tales of adventure, and scientific discovery. Tenacious plant hunters have traversed continents to collect rare specimens; naturalists and shoguns have marveled at orchids’ seductive architecture; royalty and the smart set have adorned themselves with their allure. In Orchid Muse, historian and home grower Erica Hannickel gathers these bold tales of the orchid-smitten throughout history, while providing tips on cultivating the extraordinary flowers she features.


Consider Empress Eugenie and Queen Victoria, the two most powerful women in nineteenth-century Europe, who shared a passion for Coelogyne cristata, with its cascading, fragrant white blooms. John Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge, cultivated thousands of orchids and introduced captivating hybrids. Edmond Albius, an enslaved youth on an island off the coast of Madagascar, was the first person to hand-pollinate Vanilla planifolia, leading to vanilla’s global boom. Artist Frida Kahlo was drawn to the lavender petals of Cattleya gigas and immortalized the flower’s wilting form in a harrowing self-portrait, while more recently Margaret Mee painted the orchids she discovered in the Amazon to advocate for their conservation.


The story of orchidomania is one that spans the globe, transporting readers from the glories of the palace gardens of Chinese Empress Cixi to a seedy dime museum in Gilded Age New York’s Tenderloin, from hazardous jungles to the greenhouses and bookshelves of Victorian collectors. Lush and inviting, with radiant full-color illustrations throughout, Orchid Muse is the ultimate celebration of our enduring fascination with these beguiling flowers.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Gardening, Nature, Science, Travel, Audiobook

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 20, 2022

About the author

Instagram: @orchid.muse

Erica Hannickel is a nonfiction author and former professor of environmental history at Northland College (WI). She grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in northern California gardening with her grandmothers. Now a Master Gardener, she takes full advantage of the short growing season in northern Wisconsin as an avid organic vegetable, herb, and flower gardener.

More to the point, she's a dedicated orchid freak, and loves visiting botanical gardens and orchid greenhouses all over the world. On the trip home, she packs the orchids she buys into every spare inch of her luggage. Clothes are often sacrificed for the cause.

Reviews

[Quirkyreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was full of fascinating history about orchids and people in the orchid world.

Once you get hooked on orchids it can become an obsession.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating doesn't even begin to cover it. In her book Orchid Muse Erica Hannickel writes richly about this most mysterious of flowers and includes stunning illustrations and dazzling photographs. My knowledge is (was) limited to growing a handful of orchids and searching for them in the wild in earnest. But my very curious brain was eager to learn more and I definitely did...in spades.

Amongst heaps of other things Hannickel explains historical information, terminology, growing tips, the interesting vanilla orchid, Helen Gould's incomparable collection, Raymond Burr's hybrids, conservation and the hefty price up to $100,000 some such as the wind orchid command. She describes fifteen of these beauties with an easy-to-read list of details from place of origin to fragrance (fancy jasmine, lemon, coconut or dog poop?) to flower size (up to 25 cm in diameter) to growing requirements.

Whether you are an orchid grower, collector and/or admirer do read this. Prepare to become even smarter.

My sincere thank you to W. W. Norton & Company for the privilege of reading this extraordinary book. The information is priceless!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating pop natural history of Orchids and our ongoing obsession with them. Features diverse mini biographies of people from around the world and from all walks of life and the Orchids they enjoyed. It is a fairly balanced book addressing many hard historical realities without automatically vilifying the people for not meeting modern ethical standards while still showing the negative human and environmental consequences of actions and events. Not preachy, ultimately hopeful that we can move towards a better way of benefiting by wise use of nature and conserving and restoring natural resources.

[Dan McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another obsessed with nature book!

This beautifully illustrated book looks at the history of orchid collection and breeding through the biographies of those who were obsessed with them. From queens to artists, millionaires to biologists, this book shows just how spellbinding these small flowers can be!

[Jorja Grael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! It combines two of my favorite things: orchids and history. I highly recommend if you enjoy either.

[Ali Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually read histories but I love orchids so I decided to give this one a chance. It was superb! I loved the mix of fascinating true stories and practical orchid knowledge. The author didn't shy away from the darker colonial past of orchid cultivation but also highlighted the current movement towards orchid habitat preservation. Highly recommend for any other orchidophiles like me!

[Tara Stow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history, beautiful pictures, excellent growing instructions. I want to get this book.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic history of orchids and the people who were/ are obsessed with them. Gorgeous full color illustrations and photographs. Did you know that Darwin wrote a whole book about orchids after Origin of Species? And that his grandfather wrote nearly erotic poems about orchids? Follows the rise of orchidmania in Europe and the US as well as the history of orchid cultivation in China and Japan. It even contains orchid care tips in the back.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book on those mysterious plants, the orchids. She’s done a great job of making the history and research interesting and entertaining as well as educational. The illustrations and photos are wonderful, and for such a visual subject add hugely to the book.

We get glimpses of other cultures as well, since it seems that orchids fascinated people across the world, and were valued then even more than in the present day. The Chinese, for example, have valued and bred them for more than 3000 years.

Flowers, and orchids in particular are associated with emotions, whether sexual or solace. Their scent is still used in high end perfumes, and they can lend beauty and colour to rooms with their long lasting flowers.

Their beauty has appealed to artists around the world and across time, including Frida Kahlo, and Proust wrote about the cattleya and it’s place in his characters’ love lives.

This is an uplifting book John Hope Franklin, who rose from poverty and a near lynching, to become one of the great scholars, was passionate about orchids. There are other characters brought to life, fascinating in their own right.

And she gives advice about how to grow and enjoy orchids, in this time, in this place, and to enjoy them just as others have across time and cultures.

[Hana "Nara" · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly do not know how to rate this book. The use of words "obsession" and "fifteen" on the title are kind of misleading because orchid here is actually written as a general theme around famous figures instead of the main focus, except in some chapters. I could forgive the inconsistent size of illustrations. After all, I learned some interesting things: history of societies, economics and commercialization of a commodity which is Orchid in this case. I appreciate the fact that the author doesn't shy away from colonialization issues around it too.

I am glad Vanilla made into the book and I think that is my favourite chapter, followed by chapter of Empress Dowager Cixi.

My highlights from some chapters are under the spoiler cut.

HIGHLIGHTS

Chapter 2: [...] Cymbidiums today remain one of four botanical Chinese “wisemen” or “gentlemen,” taking their place with the plum tree, bamboo, and chrysanthemum as revered botanical symbols that also represented the seasons (plum blossom for winter, cymbidiums for spring, bamboo for summer, and chrysanthemum for fall).

Chapter 3: The museum’s rich-and-famous patrons had certainly profited in various ways from the spoils of empire in the nineteenth century—orchid extraction followed in lockstep with Western expansion.

Chapter 4: Cattleyas remind us of mutability—warning us of the dangers of procreation, the unsettled waters so many of us swim in, during our own experiences of miscarriage, pregnancy, and childbirth.

Chapter 5: He [Constantine Samuel Rafinesque] also attempted to reanimate generic names he felt had been overlooked, as well as ask Western botanists to consider the work being done by local people in various orchid-rich countries. Far ahead of his time, he felt “the Japanese, Chinese, Hindu, and Arabic botanists deserve commemoration like ours” in the annals of scientific botany.

Chapter 6: Most fuukiran are judged whether or not they are blooming at the time, and white-flowered species are almost always judged while not flowering. Unlike much of the West, in Japan, the orchid’s shape, root tips, variegation, connection point between the axis and leaves (its tsuke), as well as presentation of the plant upon its moss mound, are all more important in defining a valuable variety than its blooms. Within these details, root tips are especially important because they come in many surprising colors: redbrown, yellow, shades of green, and ruby/hot pink. And if you’re not careful, you may miss the intricate beauty of a neo’s tsuke—the Japanese describe them as straight, round, or shaped like mountains or waves.

Chapter 7: However popular Angraecum sesquipedale might be in preserving Darwin’s legacy in orchid, for Darwin himself, catasetums from Central and South America were “the most remarkable of all orchids.” This truly odd genus has something that other orchids do not: the ability to, at high speed, eject its pollen packet onto its unsuspecting pollinator, affixing its gametes to a bee’s head or back with nothing short of quick-drying super-sticky glue. First, a male catasetum flower—because, not to be outdone, catasetum species produce male, female, and hermaphroditic flowers—emits a fragrance attractive to large euglossine bees. Entering the flower, the bee triggers the catasetum’s propulsive device, and thus clobbered with pollinia, exits the flower. Remembering its abuse, it does not visit a male catasetum flower again. Female catasetum flowers, though—looking and smelling different—continue the orchid’s game by luring the bee to enter and deposit the pollen on its stigma.

Chapter 8: While the vanilla flower is simply sweet, its ripe seed pod opens a universe of aromas [...] Pure vanilla holds more than three hundred volatile compounds.

Chapter 9: [...] Loudon took steps to correct rampant scientific errors in orchid understanding and care, pointing out that many types of orchids were epiphytes living upon trees, not parasites sucking the life out of their hosts, as commonly understood.

Chapter 12: Professor and author Cathy Davidson, a colleague of Franklin’s at Duke, remembers their mutual love of orchid growing as similar to their dedication to civil rights: “Orchid growing is now my John Hope Change Metaphor: if the conditions are absolutely right, change is easy. Under ordinary circumstances, it takes enormous, dedicated, constant, and attentive labor to get something unique and beautiful to bloom.”

Chapter 13: The orchid industry has, unfortunately, contributed to the long, dark history of rain forest destruction worldwide. Driven by collectors’ orchidelirium in the nineteenth century, plant hunters collected specimens throughout the Amazon and elsewhere, sometimes destroying large sections of forest in the process.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only adds to the intrigue of these beautiful flowers

There is so much more to orchids than the flowers they are so admired for. Their stories are entwined with those of the people who took huge risks to find them and the people who grow and love them.

It took me a while to get into the book as I didn’t find the first chapter or two very engaging but as soon as Erica got into the stories of the plant hunters I was hooked. Their tales read like botanical adventure mystery stories, think Indiana Jones and the lost orchid, and breathed life into the plants and the environments they were taken from for me.

Erica goes on to tell the stories of today’s growers and plant breeders who seek to conserve and preserve them to maintain biodiversity and for future generations to marvel at. John Hope Franklin’s story of orchids as a bridge across racial divides and his love for these plants is inspirational. And who would have thought Raymond Burr (yes, the Ironside actor) would have been such a huge admirer?

I was also interested to see all of the info about the plants themselves and how to grow them. They don’t all need tropical conditions to thrive. All in all I was glad I read the book and find myself remembering the plant collector’s tales and looking more reverently at orchids whenever I see them.

I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.

[mylogicisfuzzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, Orchid Muse is gorgeous, full of beautiful colour plates, it would make a wonderful gift for green-fingered friends. I’m not so green-fingered but I have managed to keep a few orchids relatively happy over the years and one of the reasons I got membership to Kew Gardens is its annual, often sold-out orchid exhibition. They are such fascinating plants and our relationship with them even more so as Erica Hannickel’s excellent book shows. She delves into history of cultivation and obsession with orchids and highlights diverse characters, from Erasmus Darvin to Frida Kahlo and Hollywood actor Raymond Burr who founded a successful business creating and cultivating hybrid orchids in greenhouses.

Orchid Muse spans continents and centuries, encompassing social, economic and cultural history but I particularly liked how at the end of each chapter, Hannickel offers useful and practical advice for orchid growers. There is also a very helpful terminology at the end. I’ll most certainly get a paper copy when published.

Highly recommended. My thanks to WW Norton and Company and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Orchid Muse.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

orchids kinda spook me but i perceive them as ubiquitous in my world, so i wanted to better understand why people like them. i appreciate that hannickel cast a wide net when portraying the historical figures who loved orchids: china's empress dowager cixi, twentieth-century Black historian john hope franklin, et cetera. the only houseplant history i'd heard prior to reading this book focused on colonizers and the orchidelirium they sparked back in europe.

i also liked learning that orchids have been perceived as masculine and feminine by different civilizations, which surprised me, as the cultural context in which i abide in tends to connote all flowers as feminine. i won't be raising an orchid anytime soon, but i liked learning more about them!

[b.andherbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Combining history and botany to discuss 15 flowers (orchids), author Hannickel pens a delightfully niche book about how orchids have touched so many important people and events in history. I especially liked the chapters about Chinese Empress Cixi (1835-1908) and her legacy of gardens and flowers, and Edmond Albius (1829-1880) who discovered how to hand fertilize vanilla orchids while enslaved as a 12year old Black boy in Madagascar. The ramifications of Albius's discovery are both distressing and sad, and i'll never look at a vanilla bean the same way again.

*read for 2023 WLA Literary Awards (published in 2022)

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not an obsessed orchid fan but I was curious enough to slide my way through this book whose pages are weightier (heavier, silkier paper) to share the illustrations, photographs, and images of the orchids Hannickel shares throughout their discovery and history. She details people who wrote about them, studied them, used them as fashion, and much more.

I won't remember much of the details but for those as interested in orchids as the book details, this is absolutely a tribute to the phenomenally intricate flower from across the globe.

[midwestguy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The presentation is luxe and the author enthusiastic, but fifteen tidy little anecdotes of people interacting with orchids (plus a couple of pages of growing information about an orchid related to the anecdote) left me pretty cold. I found the plants more interesting than the people, and the push to draw clear, uncomplicated morals from the tales of the people made them even less interesting. Orchids remain nifty, even if other plants capture my imagination more readily.

[Marjorie Elwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much like A History of the World in 6 glasses, this book wends its way through different historical periods, in this case by looking at different orchids and orchid enthusiasts. It is lush with paintings, really beautiful botanical illustrations, and photographs, and includes tips on how to grow orchids and a glossary of orchid terms.

[Venneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

They put their money behind the quality of this book - photo gloss/weight pages for the hardcover, and I bet if I look at the hardcover under the jacket I'll see something really neat. This is a neat history of the orchid that is done around fifteen different orchid varietals (some chapters have multiple varietals to them), and the times and figures around those varietals. It also at least acknowledges the involvement and role of colonialism and slavery at the heart of the orchid trade's origins, so props to Ms. Hannickel. Would be a good book for orchid growers or anyone who likes high quality photo pages and flower art.

[Rev · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was just okay. I checked it out from the library because I love orchids and wanted to read more about the history of them wrt humans. This book has many colorful pictures, and the information is conveyed in an easy to understand way, but I just wasn't wowed by it.

It was an easy read though.

[Theresa Connors · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful book traces the history of our fascination with orchids. Each chapter focused on a different person and their connection to orchids. An entry from recent history was surprising to me--I had no idea actor Raymond Burr was an orchid breeder, with multiple nurseries housing thousands of orchids, many of which were hybrids he developed.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book but a little hard to follow at times with the different species names. there is an appendix in the back that is helpful but I wish it would’ve been a little tutorial about the different flower species types. It was a little hard to keep track. Otherwise, the book was really interesting with some interesting characters and did a good job describing how orchids influenced history.

[Rebecca Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more than I expected. It was a light read packed with information. I wish more books on nature were written in this style. Th author takes the reader on an adventure of characters and history united by orchids. Highly recommend it.

[Mark Fallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple gorgeous book - both illustrations and writing. I think it's mandatory that lovers of all flowers be romantics.

That being said, a lot of interesting information. The "orchid needs" at the end of each chapter will be very helpful.

[Jean Blackwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for you if you really care a lot about orchids, which I don't. And I don't have much sympathy for obsession. But I did learn some interesting things along the way and looked online for photos of the amazing Japanese orchids that can look like monkeys, doves, or human faces.

[Sonia Hale]

Angie/Sonia suggesting we combine with The Orchid Thief and trip to Tower on the Hill to see Orchids and have lunch out there as well in March.

[Catherine Bruzdzinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful retelling of history. Fantastic and pleasurable read which gives the reader satisfaction with every page.

[Lilly Soshnik · Rating 5 out of 5]

A triumph of a book!

[anklecemetery · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this would be of more interest to die-hard orchid fans; as I appreciate them casually, the chapters in this book were a bit hit-or-miss.

[Amanda Witt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book, with 15 flowers selected, and a history of them, plus full page colour photos and a glossary at the back.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The selection of orchids to discuss seemed random and the book lacked overall focus. Mildly interesting.