Orchids Are Highly Prized in the West. In the South Pacific, They’re Everywhere.

14.11.2024 - 14:13 / nytimes.com

Orchids are zygomorphic, which means that if you cut the flowers in half from top to bottom, each side is symmetrical, like a human face. It could explain why these blooms — which range from baroque and blowsy to subtle and delicate — inspire particular passion among botanical enthusiasts: In them, we see a reflection of ourselves. That’s especially true in Papua New Guinea, where the scale and diversity of orchids holds a mirror to the country itself, which is home to some 850 distinct languages and about as many tribes. More than 3,800 species of orchids have been identified on the island of New Guinea, the eastern half of which comprises most of Papua New Guinea, but Mary Gerritsen, the president of the California-based Orchid Conservation Alliance and a frequent leader of orchid-spotting trips to Papua New Guinea, estimates that there could be more than a thousand species yet to be documented.

Pym Mamindi, a Papuan guide who owns a lodge in the highlands, says responsible orchid tourism is a potential bulwark against exploitative trades like mining and logging that are exacerbating ecological deterioration. Locally, though, orchids are largely seen as simply a part of everyday life. “Orchid” is itself a foreign term derived from the Ancient Greek word for “testicle,” but the numerous names translate to “different petals” and “hanging light.” The flowers are sometimes used on festival days to decorate spears and shields or strewn through a house for good luck, and for their fragrance. (The scents run the gamut from sweet vanilla to musk.) Occasionally, rather than placing them in pots, avid gardeners might propagate orchids on trees or logs in their yards, mimicking the flowers’ natural, epiphytic growth patterns but, unlike in Thailand or Taiwan, there isn’t much of a market around cultivating and selling orchids in Papua New Guinea because of the largely informal nature of the country’s economy. Here orchids are primarily seen as humble “bush flowers,” as Mamindi says — and are best left undisturbed.