The history of houseplant cultivation in Europe is entangled with colonialism. Plant hunters extracted species from colonized lands as trophies of imperial reach. Rare ferns and orchids became status symbols, encoding dominion over distant ecosystems. The environmental costs — unsustainable harvesting, habitat destruction — were borne by colonized landscapes. The class dimension compounds this: houseplants marked the gulf between conservatories of the wealthy and sunless tenements of the working class.
The concept connects ecology, material culture, and colonial power. Needs development as a proper text with specific historical examples and sources.
Idea from emsenn; stub created from AI-generated draft in slop/houseplants-are-colonialism.md.