NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK A modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean’s wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession. Determined to clone an endangered flower—the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii—a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man named John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture, through Florida’s swamps and beyond, along with the Seminoles who help him and the forces of justice who fight him. In the end, Orlean—and the reader—will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion. In this new edition, coming fifteen years after its initial publication and twenty years after she first met the “orchid thief,” Orlean revisits this unforgettable world, and the route by which it was brought to the screen in the film Adaptation, in a new retrospective essay. Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. Praise for The Orchid Thief “Stylishly written, whimsical yet sophisticated, quirkily detailed and full of empathy . . . The Orchid Thief shows [Orlean’s] gifts in full bloom.”—The New York Times Book Review “Fascinating . . . an engrossing journey [full] of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing.”—Los Angeles Times “Orlean’s snapshot-vivid, pitch-perfect prose . . . is fast becoming one of our national treasures.”—The Washington Post Book World “Orlean’s gifts [are] her ear for the self-skewing dialogue, her eye for the incongruous, convincing detail, and her Didion-like deftness in description.”—Boston Sunday Globe “A swashbuckling piece of reporting that celebrates some virtues that made America great.”—The Wall Street Journal

A Personal Note I decided to initiate Orchid Biology: Reviews and Perspectives in about 1972 and (alone or with co-authors) started to write some of the chapters and the appendix for the volume in 1974 during a visit to the Bogor Botanical Gardens in Indonesia. Professor H. C. D. de Wit of Holland was also in Bogor at that time and when we discovered a joint interest in Rumphius he agreed to write a chapter about him. I visited Bangkok on my way home from Bogor and while there spent time with Professor Thavorn Vajrabhaya. He readily agreed to write a chapter. The rest of the chapters were solicited by mail and I had the complete manuscript on my desk in 1975. With that in hand I started to look for a publisher. Most of the publishers I contacted were not interested. Fortunately Mr James Twiggs, at that time editor of Cornell University Press, grew orchids and liked the idea. He decided to publish Orchid Biology: Reviews and Per spectives, and volume I saw the light of day in 1977. I did not know if there would be a volume II but collected manuscripts for it anyway. Fortunately volume I did well enough to justify a second book, and the series was born. It is still alive at present - 20 years, seven volumes and three publishers later. I was in the first third of my career when volume I was published.

An extensive, easy-to-read guide to growing healthy orchids again and again, perfect for beginners, as well as experts looking for new tricks. Orchids are more popular than ever but can be intimidating in their exotic beauty. In this start-to-finish guide, acclaimed orchid expert Bruce Rogers demystifies the growing process so you can watch your plants thrive and bloom year after year. The Orchid Whisperer outlines: · How to buy orchids: What to look for, how to get the most for your money, and what questions to ask for · Essentials for orchid care: Watering, fertilizing, repotting, and common myths · Popular easy-to-grow orchid types and what to know about them · Creative decorating ideas: Choosing containers, displaying orchids, and how to create centerpieces and garlands · And much more Packed with expert advice and helpful tips and featuring more than one hundred beautiful color photographs of breathtaking plants, The Orchid Whisperer is a must-have for orchid lovers of every stripe. Praise for The Orchid Whisperer “In layman’s language, Rogers shares his recommendations for plant selection, repotting, watering, and fertilizing most of the tropicals you will find at local markets. Sections such as “Orchid True and False” and “Location, Location, Location” share practical advice with a splash of humor.” —Marin Independent Journal “An eminently intelligent and attractive book for beginning orchid growers. Rogers’ language is engaging and humorous, and strikes the right balance between being easy to read and needing a science degree to understand. . . . The Orchid Whisperer is one to put on the holiday list for novice orchidists.” —Orchids

One of every seven flowering plants on earth is an orchid. Some are stunningly over the top; others almost inconspicuous. The Orchidaceae is the second most widely geographically distributed family, after the grasses, yet remains one of the least understood. This book will profile 600 species, representing the remarkable and unexpected diversity and complexity in the taxonomy and phylogeny of these beguiling plants, and the extraordinary means they have evolved in order to ensure the attraction of pollinators. Each species entry includes life-size photographs to capture botanical detail, as well as information on distribution, peak flowering period, and unique attributes--both natural and cultural. The result is a work which will attract and allure, much as the orchids themselves do.

With so many online guides for orchid care, it's hard to know what works in your environment. That is why you have to test and experiment with the methods that are suitable for your orchids. Once you find a method that works, you write it down on a notecard, a loose piece of paper, or in a notebook...and it eventually gets lost.How do you remember all that over the years? With this orchid journal, you can keep all your notes and progress. (How many months ago did you fertilize anyway?) With this tracker, you'll better visualize what works and what doesn't, eliminating the methods that didn't work for you.In this journal, you can write down observations about each orchid (up to 5 orchids for each genus: Phalaenopsis, Dendrobium, Cattleya, Cymbidium, and Miltoniopsis) and track the progress of each. With space to track 25 orchids (and 5 bonus ones), you can keep a detailed journal of what is important for you. This orchid notebook is endorsed by Orchideria.com, containing vital information about the 5 most common orchids. Orchid care is an art as it is a science. Everyone's environment is different; orchid care changes depending on where you live. You learn (by trial and error) what is the best method or technique to fertilize, but come next year, it slips away. By writing down the information you learn, you'll improve your orchid care. Less testing and more results with what has proven to be true in YOUR environment. The most important words in this journal are yours.Plenty of Space for your Notes:Made with extra quality-paper that doesn't bleed through the other side, this notebook is made specifically for writing.The Perfect Size (5.5 x 8.5):Big enough to fit in all your notes, yet small enough to carry in your purse or handbag, this journal is the perfect companion to take with you to orchid shows, expositions, and nurseries.6 Pages of Specific Notes for Each Plant:Fertilizing Schedule, Watering Cycle, Hours of Sun, Awards, Type of Potting Medium, Bud Duration...Calendar-Free:Just because the New Year has come and gone, you don't need to fall behind calendar-wise. This journal starts today--independent of what day it is.Quick Care Reference for Each Orchid:Forgot what humidity Cattleyas like? Turn to pages 35-47 because it's all there. With general guides for the 5 types of orchids, you have a hands-on reference to use all the time.General Guides:Besides the specif guides for each, other general categories that revolve around orchid care are explained: Humidity, Lighting, Fertilizer, and Potting Medium.Orchid Journey is a 361-page personal tracker and planner made for you to deepen your knowledge in orchid care as you experiment with different methods and techniques. Call it what you'd like-- journal, diary, notebook, observation tracker--but this planner will take your orchid care to the next level.

This book provides a first hand and complete information on orchid biotechnology for orchid lovers, graduate students, researchers and industry growers. It contains comprehensive genomics and transcriptomics data, and a thorough discussion of the molecular mechanism of orchid floral morphogenesis. The contributors to the book are all orchid enthusiasts with more than 20 years' experience in the field.With more than 25,000 species, orchids are the most species-rich of all angiosperm families. They show wide diversity of epiphytic and terrestrial growth forms and have successfully colonized almost every habitat on earth. Orchids are fantastic for their spectacular flowers with highly evolved petal, labellum, and fused androecium and gynoecium, gynostemium, to attract pollinators for effective pollination. In addition, orchids have attracted the interest of many evolutionary biologists due to their highly specialized evolution and adaptation strategies.Orchid Biotechnology III covers the most update knowledge of orchid biotechnology research on Phalaenopsis, Oncidium, Cymbidium, Anoectohilus, Paphiopedilum, and Erycina pusilla. It will provide graduate students, researchers, orchid lovers and breeders with an opportunity to understand the mechanism why the orchids are so mysterious and spectacular. Hopefully, this information will be helpful for breeders to enhance orchid breeding and create even more elegant and grace flowers.