Beauty breeds obsession: the fight to save orchids from a lethal black market

Behind the scenes of its 20th orchid show, the New York Botanical Garden toils to rescue endangered plants

On a brisk February morning, a line formed outside the New York Botanical Garden’s vaulted conservatory. Inside, winter layers discarded, visitors gazed at a mossy rock covered in bright, perfect orchids rising towards the white-boned dome of the greenhouse: the opening piece of the garden’s 20th orchid show, designed by the botanical artist Lily Kwong.

Pots spilled over with showy peach and fuchsia phalaenopsis orchids; some had white petals splotched with crimson, like a wine stain on a dress shirt. There were highlighter-bright cattleyas, a white spidery star orchid in bloom and beguiling Asian lady slippers. A woman in a floral dress crouched over the glossy, grotesque petals of a paphiopedilum. “They’re trouble,” she said.