"field botanist Steve Perlman and his search for Platanthera holochila [= Peristylus holochila]...
... Steve Perlman led... plant hunters through the Alaka'i Swamp on Kaua'i, just a dozen miles from Mount Wai'ale'ale, the second wettest place on earth... quarry: the fringed orchid. [see photo : http://media.npr.org/blogs/talkingplants/images/2007/12/perlman_wet_430.JPG ] ... plant, maybe 20 inches high. ... Steve Perlman of the National Tropical Botanical Garden had seen this rare orchid years ago, before it was dwarfed by knee-high shrubs... he found it growing the middle of a wind-swept, fogged-in swamp. ... he... removed a couple of... pods... ... seed from the fringed orchid. ... vial... winging its way to Illinois College where the seeds would be propagated. [see photo : http://media.npr.org/blogs/talkingplants/images/2007/12/hands_430.JPG ] ... previous attempts to propagate it had failed... One of the main reasons this particular orchid survived was because the enormous bog it was growing in was pig-proof. ... Hawaii's wild pigs... one of the only effective defenses against them is some... fencing. ... Perlman shipped... vial of seed pods to orchid specialist Larry Zettler, professor of biology at Illinois College... Zettler... his response: ... We sowed the seeds... they are in incubation. At last check, the embryos appeared OK. Platanthera species in general take considerable time in vitro, especially without fungi, but I'm becoming more convinced that this should be our option with this extremely fastidious species ... I find it ironic that my research with fungi may be taking a back seat with this species in favor of the asymbiotic technique which I had little faith in for the terrestrials... after intensive work growing terrestrial (ground) orchids in different fungi typically associated with the plant in the wild, Zettler's coming to the conclusion that he might have better luck not using any fungi at all. His findings seem to be consistent with a recent breakthrough in orchid growing at the Atlanta Botanical Garden" URL : http://www.npr.org/blogs/talkingplants/2007/12/the_little_green_orchid_that_c.html photo of the inflorescence : http://media.npr.org/blogs/talkingplants/images/2007/12/orchid_430.jpg plant hunting / photo : http://media.npr.org/blogs/talkingplants/images/2007/12/ketzel_wet_430.JPG ********************************* Bonne Annee 2008 ! / Happy New Year ! VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
