The Orchid in Lore and Legend - Softcover

Berliocchi, Luigi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0881926167 ISBN 13: 9780881926163

Publisher: Timber Press, 2010

Synopsis

The orchid is the most evocative of flowers, inspiring in some of its admirers a fanaticism akin to madness, as 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"---had on the temperate European mind. 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.

About this title

Book Description:

The orchid inspires in some of its admirers a fanaticism akin to madness, as demonstrated in Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief. In this elegant survey of the orchid 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. Splendidly illustrated with period engravings and botanical paintings, it is literate and delightful.

From the Publisher:

“Exotic orchids have been part of our lives for more than two hundred years. . . . They have a magic whose secret will always elude us, a blend of witchcraft and romance, that sets them apart, above all other plants . . .”

So begins the late Luigi Berliocchi’s account of humankind’s discovery of the orchid, from its place in myths and legends of many cultures to its own shadowy prehistory, for the orchid, of one of the youngest plant families, nonetheless has managed to hide its traces. In the second half of the eighteenth century, explorers began to bring back these flowers, which first represented exotic lushness and mystery but later became living symbols of exclusivity, privilege, and beauty.

Berliocchi is a true collector—a bibliophile, polymath, and wordsmith who in this book has combined for our delight the magic, the history and botany, the folklore and medicinal values with the culture of those most mysterious of plants: orchids.

About this edition

• Publisher: Timber Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0881926167
• ISBN 13: 9780881926163
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200