(CNS): The critically endangered endemic ghost orchid has been given a fighting chance against extinction after local conservationist Christine Rose-Smyth, the former chair of the National Conservation Council, secured funding from the UK. A Darwin Plus Local grant will be used to develop an ex situ propagation programme for the ethereal and elusive orchid that is on the brink of disappearing.
Ex situ propagation involves hand-pollinating the flowers of the Dendrophylax fawcettii species, raising seedlings in sterile flasks of nutrient-rich material for a year or more, and then ultimately planting the seedlings into the wild.
‘Out of Flask, Outcrossed, and Out of Danger’ is a long-term project as the orchid is struggling to pollinate in the wild due to the loss of habitat to development.
“One of the problems with our ghost orchid is the apparent loss of wild pollination of the flowers,” said Rose-Smyth in a release about…
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