“Man-eating orchids” (March-April). Bernard Witlieb suggested as a possible answer the short story “The Flowering of the Strange Orchid,” by H.G. Wells, in which a man breeds an orchid that overpowers him with its scent and sucks his blood until it is discovered in the act and destroyed by his housekeeper.
Send inquiries and answers to Chapter and Verse, Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138, or via email to chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.
The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.
The popular Harvard English professor published Under Water this spring.
Author and Harvard Divinity School writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams finds beauty in the world around us.
Harvard researchers achieve medical breakthroughs in cancer therapy and infection control.
A roundup of University news from the summer of 2026
The 2026-2027 Ledecky and Summer Undergraduate Fellows
