The Millionaire Hothouse Sparknotes

The Millionaire’s Hothouse In the beginning the narrator introduces thirty-six year old John Laroche as a tall, skinny guy whom most people find handsome despite the fact that he is missing all of his front teeth. When Laroche was a child, he was fascinated with turtles he was determined to collect every species known to mankind. John always had a knack for collecting random things he now only longed for orchids, specifically the ones growing in Florida’s Fakahatchee Strand. Susan states “He loves doing things the hard way, especially if it means that he gets to do what he wants to do but also gets to leave everyone else wondering how he managed to get away with it (5)”. On December 21, 1994 John and three Seminole men were arrested because
Soon after the crash him and his wife separated the downward spiral continued Hurricane Andrew hit Florida and destroyed all of his beloved orchids. The Seminole’s were looking for someone to start a nursery the tribe owned thousands of acres of land Laroche was the perfect guy. Laroche had big plans for this nursery he wanted to build a laboratory where he would breed and clone different species. His biggest problem was that it was now illegal to collect wild orchids but Laroche had a solution for this problem being that the Indians were exempted from this state law that protected the endangered plants he would have them collect the plants while he pointed them out. During the time he started working for the tribe he had became very passionate about Indian Law. After the hurricane John gave his few surviving plants to a guy he now decided that he wanted them back, the new owner didn’t want to give them back, so Laroche persuaded him to give some clipping of the plant in a few
The swamp is filled with diamondback rattlers, snapping turtles, and poisonous plants. Susan decided she wanted to go into the Fakahatchee swamp just to witness what Laroche longed for. She wanted him to come with her but the judge had banned Laroche from the swamp until the case was over. She ventured the swamp with Tony a park ranger, Susan considered herself very tough because she had ran a marathon, and often engaged in conversations with total strangers. In reality Susan was very afraid to take this trip she almost cried when she first met Tony at the ranger station but she was determined to see orchids. Susan really wanted to see a specific orchid the Polyrrhiza lindennii, this orchid is considered a ghost orchid which is leafless and was names in honor of the Belgian plants man Jean-Jeles Linden. Susan states “If the ghost orchid was really only a phantom it was still such a bewitching one that it could seduce people to pursue it year after year and mile after miserable mile (40)”. This statement shows that although this specific plant is so hard to find people cannot resist the temptation of setting out to find