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Since Darwin’s book on orchid pollination, Orchidaceae, one of the most diverse family in the plant kingdom with 700 to 800 genus and 20 000 to 30 000 species described, have been regarded as one of the most intriguing and attractive plant families. Most orchid species occur in the tropics, where they account for a large part of epiphyte diversity. In Central Africa, for example, 70% of the epiphyte flora belong to this family, and our experience in this region has shown that ca. 90% of epiphytic orchids encountered in the field are sterile when collected and therefore nearly impossible to identify. To overcome this obstacle, a shadehouse cultivation system has been established by Tariq Stévart in Central and West Africa (Gabon, Cameroon, Guinea, DRC and São Tomé), in Madagascar (Ambatovy) and Indonesia (Halmahera) to obtain fertile, identifiable material of orchids.
This network set up in collaboration with African and international partners has proved to be an efficient and cost effective sampling procedures for epiphytes, yielding high quality liquid specimens photos, and more recently leaf tissue for phylogenetic analyses and root tissue for cytological analyses and the study of mycorrhizae.
The Epiphytic Orchid Projects aims to provide the information and the experience gathered using the shadehouse newtwork.
We used the Tropicos database to manage living plants records from the shade house network in Africa and Indonesia, and specimens collected in the field or in the shadehouse. For some specimens and living plants, the entry is associated with in situ photos of plants in their natural habitat and/or in the shadehouses where they are being cultivated, all of which will facilitate ongoing research and will provide valuable information for the target user groups.
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