Orchids are now cloned by orchid breeders who take a few cells from root tips and grow them in specially prepared laboratory conditions. This practice has been somewhat helpful in conserving orchids in the wild. Orchids are very long-lived and many plants found and transported by orchid hunters in the nineteenth century are still alive today. Almost like no other plant orchids have captured the imagination of people by their beauty and diversity. Orchid lovers can be obsessed with or addicted to their interest almost to the exclusion of everything else.
Orchids are very sexy plants.
They often look sexy. The name comes from orchis which is the Greek word for testicle. They smell sexy. The ways in which they are pollinated are often sexy. Leaving strict monetary considerations aside, from a psychological point of view one of the key elements in 'orchid mania' is probably acquiring the unique ownership, possession and control of something which epitomizes the conflict in our feelings between both the beauty and dangers of Mother Nature.