Orchid as a colour name reflects the Victorian and Edwardian fascination with orchid cultivation — "orchid mania" (orchidelirium) gripped Britain and the United States in the 19th century, with wealthy collectors paying enormous sums for exotic specimens. The warm pink-purple of many orchid flowers gave the colour its name.

Exotic, delicate, and sensual. Orchid carries associations of luxury, rarity, and botanical beauty. Unlike the domestic associations of roses or the pastoral associations of lavender, orchid suggests the exotic and the artificially cultivated. It is a colour that implies effort and connoisseurship.

Pantone selected Orchid as its 2014 Colour of the Year, describing it as a "captivating, magical, enigmatic purple." The Victorian "orchid mania" was so intense that orchid hunters were employed by wealthy collectors to travel to remote regions and collect specimens — a practice that devastated wild orchid populations. Today orchid cultivation is one of the world's most popular hobbies.