A delicate flower, which needs care and precautions but which can last a very long time. Let's talk about orchids, but this time to denounce two practices: the trade in rare species and their use in the kitchen. Due to both practices, the rarest and most beautiful orchids are now at risk of extinction.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
A delicate flower, which needs care and precautions but which can last a very long time. Let's talk about orchid, but this time to denounce two practices: the trade in rare species and their use in cooking. Due to both practices, the rarest and most beautiful orchids are now at risk of extinction.
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ORCHIDS, A FLOWER TO TAKE CARE OF
To allow orchids to preserve themselves, showing us their beautiful flowers and flourish again, we need to know which varieties to choose, which ones are best suited to the environment in which we want to place them and above all we need to take care of them in the correct way. In fact, the flowers fall irretrievably if gross errors are made.
READ also: ORCHID: HOW TO CARE AND KEEP IT FLOWERING (VIDEO)
THE THAI ORCHIDS
Unfortunately in countries like the Thailand there are very rare varieties that come taken from nature to be sold. These are not common orchids that we also find from our trusted florists, but species that should be protected, as is already the case in various areas of the world, where their rarity is recognized. This trade is illegal and essentially invisible. The data are not included in official statistics but there are those who have been raising the alarm for some time. Researchers have highlighted the problem for years: in 2015 Jacob Phelps e Edward Webb of Center for International Forestry Research di Bogor Borat, in Indonesia, published a study on “Biological Conservation” highlighting what was happening in South East Asia. On 347 varieties of orchids found, many species are considered at risk of extinction but are normally for sale in Thai markets.
NOT ALL ORCHIDS CAN BE SELL
While not all varieties are endangered, there are trade rules which determine whether a species is salable or not. This is precisely because many are unfortunately slowly disappearing. Often ad hoc funds are allocated to preserve some plant species at risk, we cite by way of example “Back from the Brink”, a British initiative that aimed to help 200 endangered species - from orchids to pines - by raising awareness and collecting donations. If in some countries there is a lot of attention to endangered flora, elsewhere the situation is completely different.
ORCHIDS: ORNAMENTAL PLANTS, BUT ALSO FOOD
One of the problems with endangered orchids is that they are not just ornamental plants, they are one of them edible and widely used in cooking. In Europe, orchid flour is prohibited, but for example in Turkey - where dozens of varieties of orchids bloom - are used to prepare the ointment, a flour from which a traditional drink is obtained that uses as an ingredient some precise varieties of orchids (Orchis, Ophyrus, Serapis, Platanthera, Dectylorhiza) reduced to powder. These varieties are protected by the EU he is infamous the salep trade is prohibited. But in Turkey the same salep is also used to prepare dondurma, a walking ice cream, and it is a very common practice.
ORCHIDS, A PROBLEM THAT RETURNS
Today the problem of the extinction of orchids is back in the spotlight precisely because of the demand for ingredients to satisfy the palates of the population of certain countries. If in Europe tea or coffee have completely displaced the ancient rivals based on orchids, for example in Zambia or in the aforementioned Turkey orchids are today a precious ingredient, part of the culinary tradition of these countries. The always greater demand for authentic cuisine that proposes ingredients from the past and finds its roots means that the demand for orchids, primarily exotic species, has increased and many plants are literally reduced to dust. And they often go around international trade rules to get them. Beyond the illegal aspects of this trade, the problem is one pointed out by experts such as the botanist Hugo de Boer, which thunders from the University of Uppsala: “We are at the point where whole varieties are collapsing”. And among the places where orchids are most at risk, in addition to distant Thailand, there is Turkey.
Anna Tita Gallo
