The Orchid: From the Archives of the Royal Horticultural Society

The Orchid: From the Archives of the Royal Horticultural Society
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The Orchid: From the Archives of the Royal Horticultural Society
Mark Griffiths
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Orchids | Flowers | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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An Enthusiasm for Orchids: Sex and Deception in Plant Evolution

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An Affair with a House

ASIN: 0810904381

Book Description

Prized for their exotic beauty and astonishing variety, orchids are the royal family of the plant kingdom. Found in a dazzling array of forms and colors, orchids—hard to obtain and harder still to maintain—are treasured as the rarest and most exclusive of plants. This glorious volume illustrates the most exquisite specimens of the flower with botanical artworks from the unrivaled collection of the Royal Horticultural Society in England.

Reproduced here for the first time are the stunning watercolor portraits commissioned for the Society's prize-winning orchid every year since 1897. These and other spectacular illustrations combine with a text by one of the world's foremost experts on orchids to make this the ultimate pictorial history and reference on the most glamorous flower of all.

Orchid Growing for Wimps: Techniques for the "Wish I Could Do That" Gardener
Average customer rating:

Great Book On Orchids

Removed all the guess work in a book you can read in one evening

Really good, but not enough pages!

... This wimp loved it!

Not for everyone!

Orchid Growing for Wimps: Techniques for the "Wish I Could Do That" Gardener
Ellen Zachos
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Orchids | Flowers | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Understanding Orchids: An Uncomplicated Guide to Growing the World's Most Exotic Plants

ASIN: 0806979356

Book Description

“A superb primer on orchid culture. It uses a fully illustrated step-by-step approach and doesn’t skimp on relating complete details. There’s a chapter showing easy-to-grow orchids in all their glory, and there’s also a chapter warning about ‘difficult’ orchids to avoid. This tome takes you on a visit [to] 16 terrific varieties you can easily handle....It’s a fun and rewarding winter exercise.”—Denver Post.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book On Orchids.......2007-09-09

This book is easy to understand with lots of detail. Good to have as reference.

Removed all the guess work in a book you can read in one evening.......2007-06-04

I've read a lot of confusing books on orchid growing as well as some very good ones like Understanding Orchids. this book is conveniently short and clear with excellent charts, great pictures easy descriptions. I found of everything I have read that this one gave me the confidence and actually repot, prune and relocate my outdoor Florida orchids. I finally feel confident that I know what I am doing. I gave it five stars because it was the star in the crown of what I read but I feel that you still need to read Understanding Orchids as well to have it all.

Really good, but not enough pages!.......2004-04-01

I was the ultimate orchid wimp, a complete novice, when a friend sent me an encyclia last summer, and I panicked. I bought the Ortho orchid book, and tried to find a decent place for my plant, then went so far as to buy two more orchids - NOT knowing they were ones that needed the exact opposite treatment from the first. And THEN the same friend moved, and had some careless friends crate up 14 of her orchids and ship them off to ME! They arrived in terrible condition, having fallen out of their pots, leaves crushed, roots torn, a MESS. I had no space, no good light for them, not enough humidity, NOTHING.
Well, enter Orchid Growing for Wimps. It gave me not only information but confidence. In particular, I commend it for having pictures of the complete plants, not just the flowers. It really shows you how to perform many necessary tasks, gives good tips on care of many common types of orchids. It convinced me at last that I'd better splurge and buy a large, lighted case for my babies, and they are now quite happy and doing well.
My only complaint, and it is unrealistic, is that this book doesn't cover all the thousands of varieties and their sometimes highly speccialized culture. The remedy for that is - MORE BOOKS, never a bad thing!
But if you can only buy one book, this one may be the most helpful one you can find.

review by Janet Knori, author of Awakening In God

... This wimp loved it!.......2002-11-27

I received an orchid plant a few years back and was afraid of loving it to death (ie: overwatering, overfertilizing, etc.) Happily, it seems to do quite fine, but I wanted to know when to repot it, how to get it to bloom with the most possible blossoms and how to care for it-aside from just keeping it alive. This book was VERY helpful, and I am the ultimate in Orchid wimps. The pictures helped me to match up what kind of plants I could buy that would do well in my home and had a great section on pests, diseases and interesting tips on how to make it a "humidity bath", and what is normal (big fat white roots, growing all crazy-like out of the top....normal (who knew?) ). It is a book for the novice, the wimp, the "please, hold my hand and tell me everything," kind of orchid grower....of which I am....and thankful that someone put it all in words for me. It will also let you branch out to other types once you get your "orchid growing chops"....and there are plenty of different varieties to try. So, take the plunge, get the book and learn to grow beautiful orchids.

Not for everyone!.......2002-10-08

While this book is easy to read, and covers many of the basics, and does recommend many easy to grow orchids, it is much too limited in application. If you are an orchid beginner and an apartment dweller in New York City, this is the perfect book for you and most everything applies to your situation. If are an orchid beginner that lives in a house in a warmer climate, some of the advice is just plain poor.

Book Description

The setting is China's Forbidden City in the last days of its imperial glory, a vast complex of palaces and gardens run by thousands of eunuchs and encircled by a wall in the center of Peking. In this highly ordered place -- tradition-bound, ruled by strict etiquette, rife with political and erotic tension -- the Emperor, "the Son of Heaven," performs two duties: he must rule the court and conceive an heir. To achieve the latter, tradition provides a stupendous hierarchy of hundreds of wives and concubines. It is as a minor concubine that the beautiful Tzu Hsi, known as Orchid as a girl, enters the Forbidden City at the age of seventeen. It is not a good time to enter the city. The Ch'ing Dynasty in 1852 has lost its vitality, and the court has become an insular, xenophobic place. A few short decades earlier, China lost the Opium Wars, and it has done little since to strengthen its defenses or improve diplomatic ties. Instead, the inner circle has turned further inward, naively confident that its troubles are past and the glory of China will keep the "barbarians" -- the outsiders -- at bay. Within the walls of the Forbidden City the consequences of a misstep are deadly. As one of hundreds of women vying for the attention of the Emperor, Orchid soon discovers that she must take matters into her own hands. After training herself in the art of pleasing a man, she bribes her way into the royal bedchamber and seduces the monarch. A grand love affair ensues; the Emperor is a troubled man, but their love is passionate and genuine. Orchid has the great good fortune to bear him a son. Elevated to the rank of Empress, she still must struggle to maintain her position and the right to raise her own child. With the death of the Emperor comes a palace coup that ultimately thrusts Orchid into power, although only as regent until her son's maturity. Now she must rule China as its walls tumble around her, and she alone seems capable of holding the country together. This is an epic story firmly in the mold of Anchee Min's Becoming Madame Mao. Like that best-selling historical novel, the heroine of Empress Orchid comes down to us with a diabolical reputation -- a woman who seized power through sexual seduction, murder, and endless intrigue. But reality tells a different story. Based on copious research, this is a vivid portrait of a flawed yet utterly compelling woman who survived in a male world, a woman whose main struggle was not to hold on to power but to her own humanity. Richly detailed and completely gripping, Empress Orchid is a novel of high drama and lyricism and the first volume of a trilogy about the life of one of the most important women in history.

Customer Reviews:

Beautifully written.......2007-09-04

I had borrowed this book from the county library but I ended up buying myself a copy after I finished reading it in just one day. I loved it so much after reading just a couple of pages from the book. I've seen many different side of the story to the Empress from different authors but I would have to say that I love Anchee Min perspective better. I realized that I was feeling what the empress was feeling through out this book and the sequel, which I also bought "The last empress". Its a must read. After reading both books, I did the research myself. Wow! I can't believe such thing exists in history. This is the best book I have ever read and bought!

Excellent Empress.......2007-08-31

I really was attracted to the beautiful cover of this book. The subject matter was unusual and of great historical interest. A wonderful peek inside the forbidden city and the Chineese people. I found this book hard to put down and it made me want to read all of the others by this author. Good real

Great Book!.......2007-08-11

Anchee Min really takes you into the world of the Forbidden City during this time and into the mind of a concubine. Excellent!

Fascinating.......2007-07-05

I highly recommend it if you are interested to learn about China and like a great story that pulls you in completely. Extremely well written. Smart, colorful, solid writing. I read it in a day and a half, could not put it down.
The story continues in "The Last Empress". Read the first book first otherwise it's not a full picture.

Engaging.......2007-05-09

This novel pulls the reader in! The research and writing are impeccable -this is a must read for anyone the least bit interested in Chinese dynastic history.

Blood Orchid: An Unnatural History of America

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IT JUST DOES NOT HAVE IT
Blood Orchid gets hammered.
7,000 miles to coherency
A wild ride
The newest "notes from the underground" by Charles Bowden

Blood Orchid: An Unnatural History of America
Charles Bowden
Manufacturer: North Point Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

In this ground-shaking, breath-taking cri de coeur, Bowden delves with love-driven fury for the roots of our brutal history in this once-brave New World. The figures he casts before us-from Pancho Villa to a modern-day drug lord, from General Sherman to a skid-row Sioux named Robert Sundance-trace a story not so much of rapaciousness as of fear and loathing. Bowden twines it with the natural history of the hammer orchid, a carnivore whose deceptive delicacy comes to stand for the terror and hypocrisy that have perverted our love of the land, its peoples, and our very natures.

Customer Reviews:

IT JUST DOES NOT HAVE IT.......2005-04-02

Very few books I start that I just cannot finish. This, I admit, was one of them. I did give it two stars because the author does have a way with words, but that is about it. This is quite typical of some of the junk writing which came out of the 60s and 70s as a result of one too many acid trips. You kind of have to feels sorry for the author. He must be a rather sad and miserable sort of an individual. Just about anyone with an ounce of observance in them can find things to whine and rant about...the author takes this to new heights. I would strongly suggest the author drive another 7,000 thousand miles and take another look. I suppose if you are a sort of "anti-everything-guy or gal" type, you might find this work interesting. Myself, I found the work to be depressing and not all that coherent. I cannot recommend this one.

Blood Orchid gets hammered........2002-11-22

Blood Orchid is filled and covered with blood. But blood brings healing. It is hard to write a good review when I have some mixed feelings about this book. I have read a few books with similar topics this past summer and they leave me numb, but I am captivated by Bowden's metaphor, whether I like it or not. He definitely has a way with words and word pictures.

In the midst of his openness and honesty he sounds as if he is regurgitating a bitter pill someone has given him to swallow. This makes the book even more compelling and hard to put down, always returning to the lesson in botany and zoology provided by the wasp and the hammer orchid. After all, are we not biological beings also? Is not everything connected by a thin cord? It is like the picture of Coyote Man being the trickster and the tricked, with irony everywhere.

7,000 miles to coherency.......2002-11-22

Blood Orchid is a work that defies categorization, it is as much a history of America as it is a piece of philosophy. Bowden writes in his introduction, "I have clocked 7,000 miles by truck in the last thirty days and I am hunkered in a motel room high in the Rocky Mountains and yet no nearer to God." Nor to a concrete point either it would seem. Bowden writes about war, and how we go about perpetuating our own destruction through it. It is in this social critique that I see Bowden's rant moving with a purpose. That purpose is to reveal life for what it really is, and he does so successfully. Blood Orchid is a piece of philosophy of life, albeit a fairly depressing one, Bowden writes about life as we have made it, and in that does an excellent job.

A wild ride.......2002-11-22

I'd be lying if I said this was an easy read, but Bowden warns the reader from the beginning that he travels fast. The subject matter is more than brutal and disturbing. It is enough to make you regret that you are a human being, but I am not sure that Bowden's goal is too make you feel hopeless. In many ways he is optimistic about the future in spite of the bloody past he graphically offers to the reader. He wants to move beyond explaining the past because as he says, "What is explained can be denied but what is felt cannot be forgotten." It would be impossible to read this book and not feel something, but the bigger sin in Bowden's eyes would be forgetting what you felt. The rawness and 85 mph pace of the prose alone makes this a difficult book to forget, but the subject matter and content moves you to question the deeper issues that plague a society that has forgotten how to feel, how to love, and how to live. I found portions of the book difficult to grasp and the book is mentally and emotionally exhausting in many ways. This does not diminish the importance of Bowden's message, but as a reader you need to be prepared to spend some time digesting the material.

The newest "notes from the underground" by Charles Bowden.......2002-11-22

Charles Bowden's "Blood Orchid" saturates his readers with honest,stream of consciousness reality from the depths of his cynical,twisted mind.Graphic sexual references hide around every corner tempting readers to find out what is this guy up to.Injections of candid truths relating Charles Keating are fascinating forays into our economic standards and the monsters created by a free market society.Stories don't get more brutal that this without real blood.A good read for those that understand their own capabilities,limitations,and appreciate the ugly potential of being human.Dostoyevsky would have been proud.

Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid

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Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid
Tim Ecott
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Herbs, Spices & Condiments | Cooking by Ingredient | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0802117759

Book Description

Vanilla is the fascinating, kaleidoscopic story of one of the world's most exotic and sensual plants and how it transformed history. From the Aztec Indians to Martha Stewart, vanilla has been synonymous with sweetening foods. Yet it's also in chili, perfume, paint, desserts, car tires, and soda. In Tim Ecott's Vanilla, learn the fascinating history of the world's most sought-after flavoring. The story of vanilla is a botanical mystery, a plant that traveled the world but would not bear fruit outside Mexico until a twelve-year-old African slave on an island figured out how to cultivate it. Now endangered in the wild and the world's most labor-intensive agricultural crop, vanilla is more expensive to procure today than at any time in its history. Tim Ecott follows its journey from Mexico to Madagascar and back to America, meeting the farmers, the brokers, and the ice-cream makers who make vanilla a multimillion-dollar business. In the tradition of books like Tobacco, Tim Ecott's Vanilla is a whimsical journey that chronicles the incredible power of one velvety brown, long, and slender bean.

Orchids in the Mud: Personal Accounts by Veterans of the One Hundred Thirty-Second Infantry

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Orchids in the Mud: Personal Accounts by Veterans of the One Hundred Thirty-Second Infantry

Manufacturer: 132nd Infantry Assn of
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Missouri orchids (Natural history series)

Average customer rating:

AN OKAY LITTLE BOOK.

Missouri orchids (Natural history series)
Bill Summers
Manufacturer: Missouri Dept. of Conservation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Customer Reviews:

AN OKAY LITTLE BOOK........2007-09-30

This one has been around for a few years, but it is really no worse for the wear. It does cover the 33 varities of orchids found in the state of Missouri and color photographs are available. The text is well done and quite readable. It must be noted though, and I might add stressed, that the purpose of the book (as stated by the auchor) is to enable the amature botanist to identify Missouri Orchids. While some technical terminology is used where needed, the author has included a very nice glossary. The reason this should be noted, is that is is not a book ment for the advance student or professional. It is a hany little field guide and the orchids addressed here can indeed be identified via the books use. The reason for the four star rating is that I have seen photographs of better quality. Also, the photographs emphasis is upon the bloom and if the plant is question is not in full blum, then the photographs leave quite a lot to be desired. For the serious student or amature, other field guides should be used. All in all though, this 1987 edition is pretty good and I am glad to have it in my collection. It has been quite helpful in the past.

Vandas: Their Botany, History, and Culture

Average customer rating:

A text book with pretty pictures...
A extraordinary book for the beginner vandaceous grower
A great reference to use for breeding Vanda
Excellent Vanda Orchid resource book
Excellent Reference For Orchid Lovers

Vandas: Their Botany, History, and Culture
Martin R. Motes , and Alan L. Hoffman
Manufacturer: Timber Press, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0881926639

Book Description

Now available in paperback! Modern vandas are among the more spectacular cultivated orchids, offering a dramatic range of colors as well as long-lasting, frequent-blooming flowers. Drawing on 40 years of practical experience, the author offers a comprehensive horticultural treatment that includes the botany, breeding, and cultivation of vandas. More than 100 beautiful color photographs augment the work. Addressing the concerns of amateur growers, botanists, and professional horticulturists alike, this thorough and accurate account is a must for all orchid fanciers.

Customer Reviews:

A text book with pretty pictures..........2001-11-14

If you are a hard core orchid breeder then this book might be right up your alley... but, if your are interested in orchids for other casual reasons this title might be too technical to enjoy. I just read through the first chapter: "The Discovery of Vandas and Their Introduction to the West." Sounds like there could be great tales of early botanical exploration and adventure... it is nothing but a long list of botanists' names, dates and enough latin to choke a Roman... page after page littered with itlalics and brackets and parenthesis. Yuch! Sure, the pictures are pretty, but they're all on glossy paper in the middle of the book, so any hope of helping the reader with a well placed illustration is lost. The book is jam packed with information and facts about culture, breeding and botany. But, be forwarned that the text, written by a Phd., reads like a reaserch dissertation.

A extraordinary book for the beginner vandaceous grower.......2000-08-23

This is a extraordinary book for anyone who is starting to grow vandaceous. It will teach you tricks that you will not find in any other book.Everyone that buys this book is lucky enough to be able to share the many many years that Martin Motes has adquired since he first started growing orchids.

A great reference to use for breeding Vanda.......1999-07-05

This is a great reference to use for breeding and cultivating Vanda, good photographs and very well written.

Excellent Vanda Orchid resource book.......1999-04-14

The author, Martin Motes, is an expert in Vanda culture and propagation. The book is very well written and contains high quality photographs of Vanda species and hybrids. Anyone interested in Vandaceous orchids, whether beginner or advanced, will thoroughly enjoy this book.

Excellent Reference For Orchid Lovers.......1998-12-23

This is an incredible book for beginners as well as seasoned orchid growers. It does a wonderful job of covering the botany, history, and culture. The author has done an incredible job of keeping your interest. It can also be used as a quick reference. When I first purchased the book I did so to trouble shoot an ailing vanda. I was able to diagnose and cure the problem in a couple of weeks. After reading the book I realized there is so much interesting history relating to vandas. This book has given me great insite into the potential of these beautiful orchids. I have many orchid books but this is by far my most appreciated and useful reference. The photographs are breath taking. This book will help anyone successfully grow vandas.

Wild Orchids Of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History

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Finally, a book focusing exclusively on orchids in South Carolina.

Wild Orchids Of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History
James Alexander Fowler
Manufacturer: University of South Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1570035660

Book Description

Orchids in any setting make for a beautiful sight, but native orchids growing in their natural habitats offer an especially rewarding view for plant enthusiasts, naturalists, and nature lovers of all ages. South Carolina hosts a rich potpourri of these enormously popular wildflowers, thanks in large part to its unique position as the lower boundary of more northerly species and upper boundary of species found in Florida and the gulf states. In Wild Orchids of South Carolina, James Alexander Fowler captures with spectacular photography and encyclopedic knowledge the full glory of the state's native orchid population. From the bogs and bays of the coastal plain to the mountain woodlands, Fowler catalogs rare and widely distributed species, offering a wealth of information for identifying these prized plants.

In addition to providing photographs of each species, Fowler includes common and scientific names, flower descriptions, bloom times, ranges, habitats, pollinators, and refreshingly candid personal observations about the orchids as he encountered them in the wild. He details his experiences of coming upon a show-stopping colony of large yellow lady's slipper orchids (Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens) and of locating the rare monkey-face orchid (Platanthera integrilabia).

Paul Martin Brown, a nationally renowned botanist and wild-orchid specialist, provides an introduction to the volume. He explains South Carolina's significance in the larger context of North American orchid habitats and prepares the reader for the striking display of beauty and information assembled in this volume.

Customer Reviews:

Finally, a book focusing exclusively on orchids in South Carolina. .......2005-10-31

A must have compendium of SC species presented in a first-hand accounting of one man's remarkable journey with these plants. Each has a photo of a grouping in situ and closeups of floral parts, there is room for notes and extensive explanations of habitat needs, personal observations, recollections and recommendations for where you might find the plant. This is an exceptional book and I highly recommend it. I recently had an opportunity to correspond with the author and his intoxication with our wild orchids is contageous and enlightening.

Average customer rating:

very interesting book
If you are interested in orchids...
The Orchid in Lore and Legend
The Mystery of Orchids

The Orchid in Lore and Legend
Luigi Berliocchi
Manufacturer: Timber Press, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Essays | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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In Pursuit of Plants: Experiences of Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Plant Collectors

ASIN: 0881924911

Book Description

The orchid is the most evocative of flowers, inspiring in some of its admirers a fanaticism akin to madness, as recently demonstrated in Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief. This elegant survey of the orchid treats its place in legend and suggests the impact that these exotic plants, whose "exuberance and heavy, sensual beauty . . . seemed to bear witness to some original sin." Berliocchi chronicles the adventurers and scientists who introduced these marvels, discusses their place in the arts, from literature and magic to cuisine, and concludes with accounts of the most important genera and their cultivation. Splendidly illustrated with period engravings and botanical paintings, it is literate and delightful.

Customer Reviews:

very interesting book.......2007-09-19

This book is filled with historical content, I could not stop reading because the book is so interesting. I was intrigued to find out that Charles Darwin was obssesed with orchids, they don`t tell you that in history class, or that he came up with his theory of evolution when he was traveling the world on a ship called the H.M.S, looking for new species of orchids and other exotic plants.

If you are interested in orchids..........2003-11-08

I read this book not because I was interested in orchids but because I'm fascinated by the lore and legends of plants. It was so beautifully written and so informative that I became interested in orchids.

I had always felt that orchids were somehow a bit "over the top". I had no idea just how "over the top" they were. By the tie I read the chapter on myths and legends I was hooked, and when I finished "Patrons and Hunters" I couldn't put the book down. Just as well because I would have missed the story about vanilla being part of the Aztecs chocolate drink, and, of course, thought to be an aphrodisiac. Montezuma was said to drink it fifty times a day, especially before visiting one of his many wives.

The book also covers the literature and art of the orchid and the magic, medicine and religion related to it. There are also chapters on the plant, the genera and on growing orchids and a list of information and illustration sources. There are some colour photographs and, throughout the text, delicate engravings from a wide range of historical sources.

This is a very literate book. Not a long book - the writer does not belabour any of his points, but an interesting and thought-provoking read. If you are interested in orchids or fascinated by the history and legends of plants, this is a must read.

The Orchid in Lore and Legend.......2003-05-07

Luigi Berliocchi Timber Press 1996 ISBN 0-88192-491-1 184 pages

I read this booknot because I was interested in orchids but because I'm fascinated by the lore and legends of plants. It was so beautifully written and so informative that I became interested in orchids.

The Mystery of Orchids.......2000-11-23

This book delves into the history of orchids and their rise in popularity. Some of the topics covered include the culinary uses of orchids, orchids in literature and orchid lore involving religion.

There are several chapters covering historical aspects of several of the most popular orchid families. The final chapter gives a brief rundown of orchid culture today.

My favorites in this book are any of the marvelous line drawings of orchid plants and flowers. There are also several color plates included.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone interested in orchid lore and legends.

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