Keith Richards's smoking habits and the death of a rare orchid

The Rolling Stone's cigarette played a part in the end of a Phalaenopsis amabilis at the New York Public Library
Keith Richards
Keith Richards: his smoking has been blamed for the death of a rare orchid. Photograph: Peter Foley/EPA

It is not exactly on the scale of trashing a hotel room, but Keith Richards has been blamed for killing an orchid at a library in New York, sending the plant on a death spiral with a few puffs of cigarette smoke.

The orchid, a Phalaenopsis amabilis, was at the main branch of the New York Public Library, where Richards spoke almost six weeks ago. The Rolling Stone had been given a tour of the premises, finishing with an invitation to sit "backstage" in the office of Marie d'Origny, deputy director of the library's Cullman Centre for Scholars and Writers.

When d'Origny returned a little while later, Richards was smoking a cigarette, the office window open, and according to the library's blog, "between the cold and the smoke, the little orchid never stood a chance".

It took four days for its 12 white flowers to tumble from the stem, the New York Daily News reported. Also known as a moon orchid, a healthy Phalaenopsis amabilis requires lots of light, gentle ventilation, and careful, meticulous watering. But as Richards would remind you, you can't always get what you want. RIP Phalaenopsis amabilis.

Although the incident took place on 29 October, news of the botanicide only surfaced this week. Luckily for investigators, Richards left both witnesses and evidence at the scene of the crime. Library workers recalled that the Rolling Stone was "very much a gentleman", and nothing at all like a "devilish rock star".

And as if sensing his wilting effect on the orchid, Richards autographed the clay saucer it was sitting in. He had used this, naturally, as an ash-tray. "He extinguished the cigarette in the sign of the cross and signed it, 'Thanks, Keith Richards, 2010,'" d'Origny said.

Despite his horticultural havoc at the library, Richards is in fact a budding gardener. "I had nothing else to do," he explained in a TV interview this spring. "I took the damn pips out [of a lemon] and I put them in a little flower pot. I just left it there – and, lo and behold, this thing starts to sprout."

Richards has "always planted things", he claimed. "I used to grow weed, but I was never there for the harvest, you know?"

Richards was at the library to read from his new memoir, Life.