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When the Victorian passion for orchids was at its height, enthusiasts were prepared to pay high prices for particularly rare or fine plants. Given the profits involved, orchid collectors in the tropics were often ruthless in pursuit of new or sought-after species. Sometimes they would send home batches of many thousands of specimens of an individual species. Often they would fell trees to obtain epiphytes growing high up in the forest canopy. Some reports also tell of areas of forest being destroyed to maintain the rarity value of the orchids that originally grew there. Today, botanic gardens and reputable orchid growers adopt a different approach. Fruits are harvested so that the parent plant is unharmed. Each fruit contains thousands if not millions of seeds, and modern propagation techniques ensure that they can be germinated and the plants can be grown on to flowering size quickly. By making large numbers of artificially propagated plants available, any incentive to collect wild plants for trade is drastically reduced. Even more important for local people can be the opportunity to become involved in orchid propagation themselves, earning a sustainable income from the natural resources that surround them.
More: Orchids from the New World tropics >>>
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