As curator of the Miller Library, I often have to make difficult decisions about adding new books. This is especially true for books on subjects already well-represented in the collection, such as roses, herbs, or (especially!) orchids.
Therefore, I was skeptical when learning about a new book titled “Orchid Muse.” Did we really need an addition to the already bulging shelves on this plant family? My mind changed only after reading praise for the book by Doug Holland, Director of the Peter Raven Library at the Missouri Botanical Garden, who described it as “a happy reminder of why I fell in love with plants and the history of botany.”
More a collection of biographies than plant profiles, author Erica Hannickel recounts the zealous passion orchids have instill in historical figures. Some, like Charles Darwin, are already celebrated for their love of plants, but most are better known for other pursuits. This includes heads of state, heads of industry, artists, and scholars, but also enslaved peoples, and women who strived to have their voices heard in a male-dominated world.
Several stories stood out for me. It may surprise you that the first public orchid show in the United States took place in a dime museum located in the “Tenderloin District” of New York City in 1887. The actor Raymond Burr is best known for his role as the criminal defense lawyer Perry Mason in a television series from 1957-1966. Less well known was the escape he found from bigotry in his orchid collection that he shared with his male partner of 33 years.
“Vanilla is an orchid that has benefited from, and been decimated by, global trade.” This succinctly describes the history of only genus of this family that has become an important food crop. This saga includes Edmond, a twelve-year-old, enslaved boy with no last name on the island of Bourbon (now Réunion), who discovered how to hand-pollinate this orchid, making it a profitable crop.
This book has proved its worth by winning the 2023 Annual Literature Award by the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries – and a place on the shelves of the Miller Library!
Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on August 4, 2023
Published in Garden Notes: Northwest Horticultural Society, Fall 2023