[WIB]

Legend has it that this orchid, or actually one if its parents Psychopsis papilio, so enchanted the sixth duke of Devonshire (known as the "bachelor duke" because he never married but kept mistresses all over England) that he became a collector. The orchid mania was in its early phases in England, and a lot of plants were being killed in the belief that all orchids lived in dark, hot jungles (so they were put in dark, furnace-heated buildings, where they languished and died). The duke had long since hired a brilliant gardener, Joseph Paxton, who designed a light, well-ventilated glass house that radically improved the survival of plants. Paxton would go on to use his talents as a designer of glass houses when he became the architect of the Crystal Palace, which housed the great exhibition of 1851.

This is a picture of Psychopsis Mendenhall 'Hildos,' which just bloomed this week. Jonathan Rich is the photographer. -- Bill