Peter, Thanks for pointing out a slight flaw in my proposal. I shall amend it.
What I was getting at is this, flasks are traded all over the world right now of all types of Paph. species and hybrids. Border authorities who inspect the shipments let all flasked seedlings in and don't question whether the parents were legal or not. In your own country of Canada there are lots of plants of vietnamese species and hybrids including helenae, hangianum, vietnamense etc. These have been showing up at meetings and in shows. This is happening not only in Canada but here in the US and throughout the E.U. There are now tens of thousands of these plants around. Let me give you a couple hypothetical situations. Suppose someone in Peru has legal plants of any appendix 1 Paph. or Phrag. species and they produce x number of seedlings for export. What if they produce plants from seed that were not from legal approved plants? How can one tell that a Paph. rothschildianum flask for instance was produced from legal or illegal parents? Because Paph. rothschildianum is so common in trade and have been around for many years I don't think anyone will trouble themselves trying to figure out whether the seedlings in the flask were from legal parents or not. So it is conceivable that someone in Malaysia or any far eastern country could have legal plants of rothschildianum but if they were unscrupulous they could go into the wild and collect seed, germinate it and send it out. The vietnamese species are now so prevalent due to flasked seedling trade that the threat to the wild populations (what is left) is greatly reduced from plant collectors. The threat then moves to climate change or land conversion. It is my hope that the land is left alone and that new seedlings that were ungerminated can regenerate the population. The Taiwanese nurseries in the beginning produced the majority of these flasks and when I did ask the questions I was told they were from legal parents that had permits. the Vietnamese management authority has claimed that no permits were ever issued to their knowledge. Now these plants are being and have been reproduced in many hybrids and in sib crosses of the species. We are now seeing second, third and fourth generations of some of these plants. When does one say enough is enough? the only way one could track legal plants is to put genetic markers in them and then if they came into question one could tell I suppose if the genetic research was done. Who would pay for all of that? In 10 or 15 years will anyone care about Phrag. kovachii as to whether any plants around were produced from legal seedlings? No, because it would be common knowledge that all the plants in trade were from legal sources. The point is several generations out it really doesn't make any difference. Getting the plants into cultivation as quickly as possible through seed production is the best means to prevent species loss from exploitation, land conversion or climate change. Being that the system that is place doesn't work now we should just forget about trying to regulate flasks. It can't be done. Sincerely, Jerry Lee Fischer Orchids Limited 4630 Fernbrook Lane N. Plymouth, Minnesota 55446 USA Toll-free: 1-800-669-6006 Local: 763-559-6425 Fax: 763-557-6956 Website: www.orchidweb.com Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
