Some are delicate epiphytes: orchids that hang from specially constructed fake trees, absorbing moisture and nutrients from the air, displaying bright colourful flowers. As Fay wipes the condensation from his glasses, we inspect the orchids. Inside the glasshouse, each room transports you to a different ecosystem, with the humidity, temperature and ventilation calibrated to sustain the plants. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian Mike Fay, a research leader for conservation genetics at Kew, says orchids have ‘a sort of kinkiness’. He also co-chairs the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s orchid specialist group, a global network of experts working towards their protection. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, and survive at high altitudes and in tropical and semi-desert conditions.Įarlier, I had toured the Princess of Wales conservatory with Mike Fay, senior research leader for conservation genetics at Kew. Orchids are one of the largest and most diverse flowering plant families: there are roughly 28,000 species known to science and they account for about 8% of all flowering plants. With that, we have to make sure that they also have the right security.” Often, the best growing conditions are back of house. “The particularly rare orchids are locked away behind glass cabinets so people can’t get them,” says Deer, explaining that some of the rarest and most endangered are kept out of sight from visitors entirely. They had been recovering from the theft of a cutting the year before. Across the Atlantic in the Cayman Islands, two chocolate orchids were stolen from Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park in May. Earlier this month, green-winged orchids were stolen from a meadow near Rugby (Warwickshire police are investigating). Security staff at Kew gardens no longer carry handcuffs and truncheons, or wear a police uniform, but just like the Crimean war pensioners who stood guard at the gardens in the 19th century, Deer’s team needs to be on the lookout. “Orchid influencers”, complete with live streams and “unboxing videos”, are at the heart of the modern obsession. Ivory and rhino horn dominate the popular perception of wildlife crime, but the colonial-era enthusiasm of wealthy Victorians for orchids, known as “orchidelirium”, has taken on a new form today, with social media the focus of a thriving illicit global market that threatens the survival of some species. Orchids from all over the world are studied at Kew and many need special protection. In art, the Victorian Pre-Raphaelite artist movement made particular use of floral symbolism in many of their paintings.īrowse this site for beautiful images, floral meanings, folklore and flower facts, and shopping (coming soon).Orchids in the Princess of Wales conservatory at Kew Gardens. Gifts of blooms, plants, and specific floral arrangements were used to send coded messages to the recipient, allowing the sender to express feelings which could not be spoken aloud in Victorian society.Īrmed with floral dictionaries, Victorians often exchanged small "talking bouquets", called nosegays or tussie-mussies, which could be worn or carried as a fashion accessory.īut even prior to the Victorians, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, and children's novelist Frances Hodgson Burnett, amongst many others, used the folkloric language and symbolic meaning of flowers in their writings. Interest in floriography increased in Victorian England and in the United States during the 19th century. Meanings and magic has been attributed to flowers, plants, and trees for thousands of years, and some form of floriography has been practiced in traditional cultures throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The language of flowers, sometimes called floriography, is a means of cryptological communication through the use or arrangement of flowers.
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