The Missouri Botanical Garden maintains one of the largest orchid collections in the nation, with over 7,500 individual orchid plants representing approximately 280 genera and including over 2,500 unique orchid taxa. The 2011 show is inspired by Maya culture. The Garden’s orchid history dates back to 1876, when the first specimens were gifted to Garden founder Henry Shaw. The collection was significantly expanded in the 1920s when Garden horticulturist George H. Pring added some 5,000 Cattleyas from a collection trip to Panama and Columbia. Through subsequent gifts and collecting, the collection grew in size and prominence. Today, the Garden’s orchid collection emphasizes the most extensive genera, Cattleya, Laelia, Epidendrum, Oncidium and Paphiopedilum, because they can survive the blistering St. Louis summers and offer a diversity of color and form.