The Orchid Outlaw: On a Mission to Save Britain's Rarest Flowers

Ten years ago, Ben Jacob turned outlaw to save our rarest flowers. This is his story.

Obsessed by orchids since childhood, Ben spent his twenties travelling to far-flung jungles to see them in the wild. Returning to the UK, he was entranced to discover our fifty-one native species and their exotic stories: the Bee whose flower looks (and smells) so much like one that even bees are fooled, the Ghost which exists without direct sunlight, and the Autumn Lady’s-tresses that helped Darwin work out his theory of evolution.

But Britain’s orchids are in desperate trouble. Decimated by changes in land use and climate, inadequately protected by environmental and planning laws, many are on the brink of extinction. Determined to act before it was too late, Ben started sneaking into building sites in the dead of night to rescue threatened plants. Then he turned his kitchen into a laboratory, his fridge into storage for hundreds of baby plants and his back yard into an orchid refuge. The next challenge was finding them safer new homes . . .

At once a memoir, a natural history, and an inspiring call to action, reintroducing us to Britain’s most endangered flowers, The Orchid Outlaw shows us how we can all save the world, one plant at a time.