Henry Frederick Conrad Sander loved plants. When he was twenty, Sander went to work for James Carter and Company at their Forest Hill nurseries. There he met Benedict Roezl, a plant collector who had very little success making a living from the plants he sent back to England. Sander and Roezl formed a partnership; Roezl would collect and ship plants, Sander would receive and sell them.

In 1873, when Sander needed a greenhouse, he built one with his own hands. Sander made a profit both for himself and Roezl. Roezl retired to Prague, Sander continued the business. But Sander was different from other orchid dealers. He was described as an "upright man." From 1880 to 1910, he gave Kew Gardens more plants than anyone else to build "our great national garden". With Roezl gone, Sander hired and sent collectors all over the world.

From 1865 to 1889, Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach was considered the foremost authority on orchids. In 1886, Sander hired artist H. G. Moon to paint watercolors of orchids. These paintings put together with descriptions from Reichenbach formed Reichenbachia, a comprehensive work on orchids.

It was good that Henry Sander had the foresight to put together Reichenbachia. It was believed Reichenbach's herbarium and writings would go to Kew Gardens. But Kew had hired Robert A. Rolfe. Rolfe was self-educated and rose through the ranks to become an expert on orchids. Reichenbach rankled that a self taught person could be considered an authority.

When Reichenbach died in 1889, his will bequeathed the collection first to the imperial Hof Museum in Vienna with the stipulation that his life's work on orchids be locked away for 25 years. In a not-so-subtle slap at Rolfe, the will stated "in order that the inevitable destruction of the costly collection, resulting from the present craze for orchids, may be avoided."

Euanthe sanderiana was originally named Vanda sanderiana by Reichenbach in 1884. The plant has two forms, pink and alba (white). The original pink variety was discovered by M. Roebelin (Roebelen?) in the Philippines in 1881 or 1882. Due to structural differences in the flowers, Euanthe was separated from Vanda by Friedrich Schlechter in 1914, the year Reichenbach's request ended. Euanthe is a monotypic genus (single species) in the Vanda tribe.