11 Enchanting Quirks of the Rare Ghost Orchid
10. It has a problem with poachers, too
Ghost orchid Dendrophylax lindenii
Ghost orchid blooms on a bald cypress tree at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, Florida. LagunaticPhoto / Getty Images
Along with its general rarity and remote, inhospitable habitat, the ghost orchid's camouflage makes it incredibly hard to find in the wild. That doesn't stop some people from trying, though, and not always for good reasons.
An estimated 2,000 ghost orchids live in the wild across South Florida, according to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), although a recent survey suggests there might be more.
While researchers want to know where those orchids are, the locations are often kept secret due to the threat of poachers, who may be willing to risk their lives in search of wild ghost orchids.
Although the rare plants may command a high price on the black market, this is stupid even beyond the obvious legal, ethical, and ecological reasons. Ghost orchids rarely survive removal from the wild.
11. It's very hard to cultivate, but one fungus seems to help
ghost orchid, Dendrophylax lindenii, at Fakahatchee Strand
Ghost orchids have very particular growing requirements, including high temperatures, high humidity, diffuse light, specific kinds of trees and a specific symbiotic fungus.
Rhona Wise / AFP / Getty Images
The ghost orchid not only tends to die when removed from its natural habitat, but it's also famously ill-suited to captivity in general.
Botanists long struggled to cultivate the orchid, hoping to create a population of captive-bred plants that could be periodically transplanted to help buffer their wild counterparts.
Although the ghost orchid has seemed impossible to cultivate, researchers have made some breakthroughs in recent years. Michael Kane, a professor of environmental horticulture at the University of Florida, has been working with a team of researchers to bring ghost orchid seeds from the wild to a propagation lab, where they try to germinate the seeds under sterile conditions on a gelled medium and then transfer the plants into a greenhouse.7
The key is not only recreating precise conditions that ghost orchids need to thrive, but also providing them with the right fungus. Ghost orchid seeds won't germinate unless they're infected with a specific mycorrhizal fungus, which provides energy for the germination and then grows on the plant's roots as part of a symbiotic relationship.
In the wild, ghost orchids seem to colonize trees with moist, corrugated bark that harbors fungi in the genus Ceratobasidium, and researchers have identified certain fungal strains that lead to higher germination rates.7
ghost orchid at Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
Michael Kane, environmental horticulturist at the University of Florida, attaches an endangered ghost orchid to a host tree at the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. (Photo: Rhona Wise/AFP/Getty Images)
Kane and his team have been so successful in cultivating ghost orchids that they've also begun reintroducing them to the wild. The researchers planted 80 orchids in the wild in 2015, achieving an 80% survival rate a year later, then followed up with 160 more orchids in 2016.7
This alone may not save the species, especially if its habitats remain in danger, but it's still a big step toward preserving these incredible ghosts.
Ghost orchid Dendrophylax lindenii
Ghost orchid blooms on a bald cypress tree at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, Florida. LagunaticPhoto / Getty Images
Along with its general rarity and remote, inhospitable habitat, the ghost orchid's camouflage makes it incredibly hard to find in the wild. That doesn't stop some people from trying, though, and not always for good reasons.
An estimated 2,000 ghost orchids live in the wild across South Florida, according to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), although a recent survey suggests there might be more.
While researchers want to know where those orchids are, the locations are often kept secret due to the threat of poachers, who may be willing to risk their lives in search of wild ghost orchids.
Although the rare plants may command a high price on the black market, this is stupid even beyond the obvious legal, ethical, and ecological reasons. Ghost orchids rarely survive removal from the wild.
11. It's very hard to cultivate, but one fungus seems to help
ghost orchid, Dendrophylax lindenii, at Fakahatchee Strand
Ghost orchids have very particular growing requirements, including high temperatures, high humidity, diffuse light, specific kinds of trees and a specific symbiotic fungus.
Rhona Wise / AFP / Getty Images
The ghost orchid not only tends to die when removed from its natural habitat, but it's also famously ill-suited to captivity in general.
Botanists long struggled to cultivate the orchid, hoping to create a population of captive-bred plants that could be periodically transplanted to help buffer their wild counterparts.
Although the ghost orchid has seemed impossible to cultivate, researchers have made some breakthroughs in recent years. Michael Kane, a professor of environmental horticulture at the University of Florida, has been working with a team of researchers to bring ghost orchid seeds from the wild to a propagation lab, where they try to germinate the seeds under sterile conditions on a gelled medium and then transfer the plants into a greenhouse.7
The key is not only recreating precise conditions that ghost orchids need to thrive, but also providing them with the right fungus. Ghost orchid seeds won't germinate unless they're infected with a specific mycorrhizal fungus, which provides energy for the germination and then grows on the plant's roots as part of a symbiotic relationship.
In the wild, ghost orchids seem to colonize trees with moist, corrugated bark that harbors fungi in the genus Ceratobasidium, and researchers have identified certain fungal strains that lead to higher germination rates.7
ghost orchid at Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
Michael Kane, environmental horticulturist at the University of Florida, attaches an endangered ghost orchid to a host tree at the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. (Photo: Rhona Wise/AFP/Getty Images)
Kane and his team have been so successful in cultivating ghost orchids that they've also begun reintroducing them to the wild. The researchers planted 80 orchids in the wild in 2015, achieving an 80% survival rate a year later, then followed up with 160 more orchids in 2016.7
This alone may not save the species, especially if its habitats remain in danger, but it's still a big step toward preserving these incredible ghosts.
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06 September 2023
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