This event is organised by the Oxford Martin Programme on the Illegal Wildlife Trade. Please register here to attend.

In the 19th century, a disease spread through the vast tulip crops that supported the Dutch economy. This event triggered a frantic search for wild flowers to supply the fast growing European flower market.

In this documentary, orchid hunters tell the story of hundreds of collectors with scientific interest, like Humboldt or Mutis, or businessmen like Chesterton or Millican, who went to New Granada in search of orchids and documented their trips. Filled with amazing anecdotes, stories of looting, shipwrecks and deaths, these stories are mostly unknown to the public.

The story of orchid hunters in the new world is an historical testimony showing the pillage that tropical forests have been facing. This journey through history is narrated in parallel with the way orchids are grown and studied nowadays.

Documentary in Spanish with English subtitles.

1-hour screening followed by a 30-minute Q&A session with Dr Tatiana Arias specialist in Colombian orchid’s genetic biodiversity and conservation.