The story begins in a shady mountain valley in the Peruvian Andes. It ends in a federal courtroom. And along the way, it gives a fascinating glimpse into the international intrigue, emotion and obsession of high-end orchid collecting.

This hobby is a mystery to most people, but among those addicted to it, there is no question these demanding plants can create hysteria. That's exactly what happened in early 2002 when James Michael Kovach of northern Virginia discovered a special orchid at a Peruvian flower stand.

The orchid was a phragmipedium, or ladyslipper orchid, with an unusually large, purple flower. Until recently, it had been growing unmolested in a few remote valleys in Peru's Andes mountains.

A few months after Kovach discovered it, this showy orchid with a large, luscious purple flower burst onto the orchid scene. The "slipper" orchids, including paphiopedilum and phragmipedium, were already red hot. Collectors were scouring jungles to find new ones, and this was said to be the most beautiful of them all.

"The thing with phrags is they've always been the dowdy, ugly ducklings," said Martin Motes, organizer of the Redlands Orchid Show in Dade County and owner of Motes Orchids. "With the discovery of [this plant], here was a larger species with stunning flowers. People decided they would become excited beyond all reason. Everyone wanted it. It was a meteoric plant."

Unfortunately, its entrance was anything but calm. According to international horticulture rules, the discoverer of a new plant has the right to name the plant. In this case, the new plant was named `p. kovachii' after Kovach, its discoverer.

According to press reports, after discovering the orchid at a Peruvian roadside flower stand, Kovich asked the farmer to show him where the plant was growing, Then he took a few with him back to the United States.

Once in the United States, he rushed the plant to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota and left it there. Horticulturists at Marie Selby measured the new plant, recorded its characteristics and, 10 days later, on June 12, 2002, published a special version of the in-house Selbyana horticultural magazine, describing and naming the new plant. Then they sent the plant back to Peru.

This is when things began to fall apart, according to Motes. The new orchid, like all "phrags," is an internationally endangered species, protected under Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Flora and Fauna. To legally import a CITES Appendix 1 orchid, Kovach would have needed permits from both Peruvian and U.S. authorities. To name it, Selby horticulturists should have confirmed it was a legal plant.

According to a subsequent U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service investigation, no permits had been issued. The plant was illegal, a smuggled, living example of the international orchid black market.

The uproar began immediately. At the same time Kovach was moving to name his prized orchid after himself, another horticulturist was about to name the same plant. Eric Christensen, a former Selby horticulturist, had submitted a description of the same plant to the American Orchid Society, west of Delray Beach.

Although he didn't have the plant, he had described it and measured it with help from friends in Peru. The society was only a week from christening the new orchid `p. peruvianum' when Kovach's article came out in the Selbyana.

"I had no idea Selby was going to do anything with it until someone told me about the publication," Christensen said. "They rushed into print to beat me because it was an exciting new find. I was disturbed because it was named after an American. The reason I rushed into print was to name it Peruvianum. I didn't want it named after someone's wife or something."

Almost two years later, the fallout is still raining down from this case. In November, a federal grand jury in Tampa handed down an indictment against Kovach, charging him with importing a protected orchid species.

In June, Kovach pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor accounts of violating the Endangered Species Act. Each count carries a possible maximum sentence of 12 months in prison and a $100,000 fine. Kovach will have to wait until his sentencing hearing, which will probably be later this summer, to find out his fate.

Criminal charges were also filed against Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and its chief horticulturist, Wesley Higgins, for violating the Endangered Species Act by possessing the smuggled orchid. Selby and Higgins agreed to probation and $5,000 and $2,000 fines respectively.

"This case is closed," said Barbara Hansen, chairman of the board at Marie Selby, after the deal was announced. "It's finished. It's done. It's behind us."

The same cannot be said for `p. kovachii.' For the time being, the plant has slipped from view. But not forever. According to Peter Croezen, an orchid expert and breeder in Ontario who wrote about the existence of `p. kovachii' before it appeared in the United States, there are only 10 legal `p. kovachii' in the world. They are licensed to two growers in Peru and they are still surrounded by intrigue.

One of the growers, Manuel Arias-Silver, 70, was arrested in January in conjunction with the Miami Orchid Show while trying to smuggle other varieties of phrags into the country. He later pled guilty to conspiring to smuggle endangered orchids into the country and making false statements to federal authorities. Last week he was sentenced to 21 months in a federal prison.

And then there are the phantom plants. According to Croezen, there were a few colonies of `p. kovachii' in the mountains when the first plant made its entry into the United States. Today, he says there is only one known site left, and its location is guarded. The others have been stripped clean by farmers and collectors, and the plants have vanished, perhaps to illicit greenhouses throughout the orchid world. But no one is taking responsibility.

"Even if the guy you're talking to has them, he'd be stupid to admit it," Croezen said. "And if he has them in his greenhouse, it's stupid. They're in some little back alley somewhere."

Still, Croezen and other growers have heard rumors of people offering `p. kovachii' for sale at orchid shows. Rumor has it the plants are offered at prices that approach $25,000. But orchid experts say no self-respecting grower, especially one who wants to avoid jail, would have anything to do with the plant.

"You're dealing with something that has the same panache and clandestine risk as a stolen work of art," Motes said. "Suppose someone stole The Scream. Can you show your friends? Everyone would know what is it. But the temptation was so great that people were seduced by this."

Few people have actually seen the `p. kovachii.' But Croezen thinks that once the first legal plants enter the trade, the world will be flooded with illegal plants. Either way, it will take four or five years before the first `p. kovachii' are ready for sale and begin blooming. These plants will likely command hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for a single specimen.

This might seem like more than a king's ransom for a plant, but not to serious orchid collectors.

"I call it `orchiditis,'" said Croezen. "Once you get into orchids, you join an orchid society and get a few orchids. Then they start flowering, and the flowers are very intriguing. I suppose they're some of the most beautiful flowers in the world. Then you run out of space, and that's when you get orchiditis. It's when you buy plants even when you don't have space. It's a very nice disease."

At least for a few more years, the sickness for `p. kovachii' will go untreated, and orchid collectors around the world will have to content themselves with written descriptions, a few grainy pictures and whispered rumor of the most exciting orchid in a century.

Jon VanZile is a gardener and freelance writer who lives in Pompano Beach.

This is when things began to fall apart, according to [Martin Motes]. The new orchid, like all "phrags," is an internationally endangered species, protected under Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Flora and Fauna. To legally import a CITES Appendix 1 orchid, [James Michael Kovach] would have needed permits from both Peruvian and U.S. authorities. To name it, Selby horticulturists should have confirmed it was a legal plant.