From University Press of Florida

Discovered in Peru in 2002, the Phragmipedium kovachii quickly became the most sought-after orchid in the world. Prices soared to $10,000 on the black market and otherwise rational people bent rules and broke laws in the obsessive quest to possess it.

Award-winning journalist Craig Pittman covered this fascinating story, as it unfolded, for the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times. In this enthralling account, he unravels the tangles web of smuggles, scientists, and federal investigators to reveal who the real criminals were in this sordid affair.

ISBN 978-0-8130-6056-9, copyright 2012.