Description
Book SynopsisAcross the centuries, orchids have captivated us with their elaborate exoticism, their perfumes, and their sublime seductiveness. But the disquieting beauty of orchids is an unplanned marvel of evolution. This book features over 150 color photographs that capture the diversity and magnificence of orchids in their natural habitats.
Trade Review"The moment that the orchid stumbled upon one of the keys to human desire and used it to unlock our hearts, it conquered a whole new world-our world-and enlisted a vast new crew of credulous animals more than happy to do its bidding. Let's face it: we're all orchid dupes now." -Michael Pollan, from the Introduction "Orchid flowers have long been understood to be ridiculously fascinating, and this book shows just that, gorgeously. They certainly merit the 'Oh my' reputation they have acquired over the centuries. But, the problem for us mere mortals is that even if most lucky, we only bump into one in the wild every now and then. And here you have many of their kinds all at once, as though you were incredibly lucky in the forest, though of course there is no place or date on earth when you can see them like this. This new look is a fantastic and fantasmatic companion for any day when you are lucky enough to encounter one of these flowers, so unique as to turn any flower show into oatmeal." -Dan Janzen, Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania"
