Jay, thanks for your description of the WOC-- we couldn't make the trip, but it's nice to have done it vicariously, thanks to you. Two threads have surfaced recently on this digest which are intertwined-- the 'tourist-oriented' article on drinking salep and the article mentioning picking Cyp. acaule, our N.A. native terrestrial. Both postings make me uneasy because there seems to be no recognition in either that both are ways of killing and/or hurting wild populations of lovely, fragile terrestrial orchid species. To my knowledge, there are still no propagation methods being used to repopulate or sustain wild populations of the terrestrial orchids harvested to make salep. There have been some synthesized saleps but I don't see any mention of these being used. Does anybody have any information on either of these attempts to save those terrestrial orchids in the wild? The other thing that makes me uneasy, is the concept that Cyp. acaule is to be treated as a casual wildflower. True, landowner's permission makes it legal to either pick or transplant Cyp. acaule, and now at last it is being raised from seed, something wonderful that took a long while to effect, but I am keenly aware that, in our area at least, (the northeastern U.S.), there are several vectors which have the ability to wipe out whole colonies: pine voles, which share the same sandy, ericaceaous, piney habitat, eat them from under the ground up; and white tailed deer which are notorious for regarding Cyp acaule as pink lollipops, browsing off the blooms and therefore eliminating seed production for that year. Also, people have been accustomed to seeing C. acaule in the wild and so have a casual attitude towards their preservation. But, their habitat in this area is also that most desired for construction-- well-drained sandy areas, and local conservation land use boards are not particularly aware that the populations are dwindling and don't use stringent protection measures. So, they are under attack from three directions: loss of habitat, predation from below ground and predation from above ground. We need to watch that we don't permit them to be 'nibbled away' entirely from the wild. Also, when their flowers are picked, in addition to limiting their ability to reproduce and sustain their numbers, unless care is taken to snip off the stems cleanly, the act of plucking can take out the growing crown of the plant, including the leaf cluster and sometimes uprooting the plant entirely, killing it. Sorry to take up so much space, but I did want to call to your attention my misgivings. Ann Jesup
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