ORCHID CONSERVATION NEWSThe Newsletter of the Orchid Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission

Issue 1 April 2015

Conservation of Medicinal Orchids

Editorial

There are many paths to species vulnerability that canlead to extinction. Overcollection for food, for medicineor for horticulture are just a few of the many challengesto species survival. There are also random, destructivenatural disasters such as earthquakes that struck Nepalon April 25, 2015. Each challenge impacts human andorchid survival differently but the role of all ecosystemcomponents to survival and sustainability of populationscannot be overlooked. It might not take much to disruptor exploit an ecosystem but it can equally be possible,given time, to recover a sustainable balance.

There are many paths toward achieving sustainability. InNepal, conservation initiatives have been developedfrom strong, compassionate leadership to further publicawareness and education, community involvement, aswell as in-situ and ex-situ methodologies. Bangladesh,particularly the south east part of the country, has adiverse plant community but some orchid species, oncewidely distributed, are being impacted by exploitationfor medicinal use. Conservation measures such as tissueculture methodologies are suggested but standardprotocols must be developed to ensure that diversity ismaintained, that bioactivity across a species populationis assessed so that plants are available for a range offuture uses. A Chinese team challenged with the task ofconserving a traditional Chinese medicinal plant,Dendrobium officinale, has made significant progress.We read in this issue of how they collected wild plants,bred and selected new strains with medicinal productpotential. This approach should reduce pressure on wildplants as a standardized protocol toward uniformproduct output can provide reliable product much as has

been accomplished with orchids for horticulturalpurposes.

As you will appreciate from the articles in this issue, orchids have traditional use as medicine in many partsof our global community. We look forward to morecommunity-based conservation projects and innovative ideas to consider in the future. Marilyn H. S. Light, Editor mslight@distributel.net

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Nepal Photo: Bijaya Pant

Our orchid conservation effort in twocommunity forests of central Nepal

Bijaya PantCentral Dept. of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu,

Nepalbijayapant@gmail.com

http://cdbtu.edu.np/faculty/dr-bijaya-pant

Medicinal orchids are among the most importantcomponent of the Orchidaceae in Nepal. These species

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are known to provide local medicine, food, and fodder,contributing in the livelihood and income generationwithin rural communities. Whole plants as well as partsincluding tubers, roots, rhizomes, stems, pseudobulbs,and leaves are used in medicine but the plants arethreatened with extinction due to over collection fortrade, habitat fragmentation and degradation. Habitatdegradation will adversely impact other naturalresources as will the loss of orchids as they are animportant biodiversity component. Of the estimated460 orchid species in Nepal, we have reported 96species as having medicinal value (Pant and Raskoti,2013; Medicinal Orchids of Nepal.)

The Government of Nepal has handed over accessibleforest areas as Community Forests to the Forest UserGroups for management and sustainable use. In order tocreate community awareness and to developconservation strategies for two community forests incentral Nepal, we designed a study using these forests aspilot sites. The goal was to identify orchid-richcommunity forests, to educate, and to instill awarenessin local communities about orchids of commercialvalue. We wanted to familiarize local communities withthe current state of community forest degradation, theconsequences of illegal trade, and train people in bothin-situ and ex-situ conservation techniques, as well as inpropagation and cultivation methods. Youth areinvolved in this project since getting young peopleinterested and informed can give them a purpose. Theirenthusiasm can then be transferred into society as awhole.

Orchid exploration and identification in studied area by our

research team. Photo: Mukesh Babu Chand

Of the 61 species recorded from two community forests,we determined, based upon literature and localinformation, that 28 of these species (45.9%) wereorchids of medicinal use. A total of 17 orchids, that areused for traditional medicine as well as for trade, wererecorded from the forest study sites. Most of these wereDendrobium species.

Dendrobium crepidatum Bulbophyllum leopardianum

Some of the blooming orchids in the study sites. Photo: Bijaya Pant

One of the goals of our study was germplasm storageand ex situ conservation of threatened medicinal orchidsfrom the study areas. Seeds as well as explants ofmedicinal orchids belonging to the genera Dendrobiumand Cymbidium, as well as Papilionanthe teres, andVanda tessellata, have been cultured in vitro for masspropagation and germplasm preservation. The long termgoal is to promote the local livelihood of the people byproviding a means to legally use orchid resourcesthrough the cultivation of tissue-cultured plants. Thiswill provide income generation for the local communityand ensure long term conservation of species.

Local women identifying orchids for local uses. Photo: Bijaya Pant

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We realized that working together with communitiesbrought about changes in the attitude of local peopleregarding the wealth potential of their forest orchids.They came to realize that sustainable managementpractices and eco-friendly activities leads to economicbenefit for the community. Orchid conservation requiresa range of disciplines and stakeholders workingtogether. Conservation efforts need to be integrated intothe communities where the resources are located. We acknowledge the Multi Stake Holder Forestry Programfor the financial support to conduct this study. My specialthanks goes to Ms. Shreeti Pradhan, Mr. Mukti Ram Poudel, Mr. Mukesh Babu Chand, and all the students involved in theorchid conservation project.

Watch this very interesting short clip of Bijaya Pant’s conservation effort together with the community people inNepal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxmDP0rcXp8

___________________Major breakthroughs with Dendrobium officinale

conservation made by a team in China

Prof Yi-bo LuoInstitute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing

luoyb@ns.ibcas.ac.cn

Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo (Orchidaceae),is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant with second-grade protection. Before the 1990s, D. officinaleproducts were rare medical materials which could beonly obtained from wild sources. The D. officinaleconservation team, headed by Professor Si Ji-ping fromZhejiang A & F University (ZAFU), has addressed keyproblems with resource protection and industrialdevelopment for this species, and has achieved somenotable results.

A total of 305 germplasm resources were collected.According to their biological characteristics, activecomponents, and functional genes, a multiplegermplasm storehouse of D. officinale was compiled.Subsequently, two provincial identified varieties andseveral new strains were selected from the progeny of360 hybrids obtained by crossing within the 305resources. The major breakthrough is the developmentof a new breeding method for medicinal varietiesinvolving both intra-specific hybridization and marker-assisted selection.

A large scale tissue-culture factory and plant productionfacility for D. officinale has been built in China. Thecultivated area was over 60,000 mu (4000 ha) in 2014.Key technologies employed for cultivation of improvedvarieties of D. officinale have been developed bystudying the relationship between factors such as growthmedium, light, water, air and temperature on plantgrowth and development. Natural growth situations suchas artificial living tree epiphytic cultivation, cliffcultivation, and stereo cultivation have been set up toguarantee highly efficient ecological cultivation.Furthermore, as an industry standard, ‘A TechnicalGuideline for Good Agricultural Practice inDendrobium officinale’ had been established. Fivehealth products including Tiepifengdou granules,cosmetics and a toothpaste based upon D. officinalehave been developed. Together, these achievementsprovide effective support for protecting D. officinaleresources in China, and provide substantial commercialvalue for the D. officinale industry. Some experts, including Peigen Xiao and Weilun Yin ofthe Chinese Academy of Engineering, believe that thework of the D. officinale conservation team is a modelof industrialization potential for endangered medicinalplants and could lead to similar studies the world over.

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Conservation of two medicinal orchids inBangladesh

Dr. Mohammed Kamrul HudaProfessor and Chairman, Department of Botany

University of ChittagongChittagong 4331, Bangladesh

mkhuda70@hotmail.com

Orchids are fascinating and commercially valuableplants known for their extraordinary, long-lastingflowers that are valued by garden lovers and orchidenthusiasts. Their potential horticulture value isappreciated the world over and in some countries, masspropagation has satisfied demand. Some orchids may bemedicinally important with a potential in treatingvarious ailments and diseases. Tropical countries likeBangladesh are rich in orchid diversity, especially ofepiphytic orchids. Bangladesh has 178 wild andindigenous orchid taxa, two-thirds of them epiphytic.Two indigenous epiphytic species, Aerides odorata andCymbidium aloifolium, have beautiful showy flowers.They are also valued by the tribal people of South East

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Bangladesh for medicinal purposes mainly as anti-inflammatories and as anti-cancer agents. Consideringtheir medicinal importance and future patentopportunities, these two species were sequenced withtwo barcode genes; matK and rbcL which are nowavailable in the National Center for BiotechnologyInformation (NCBI) gene bank. Phytochemical analysesand bioactivity tests for anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activity revealed efficacy potential of someinteresting compounds.

Cymbidium aloifolium

While the two orchidsdiscussed here are widelydistributed in Bangladesh,

their populations are decreasing very rapidly due tooverwhelming exploitation and collection pressure.

Aerides odorata

Conservation of orchids inBangladesh is less focused sono effective initiative has sofar been taken to conservethese valuable species innature. What is now urgentlyneeded are measures toexplore the chemical natureand structure of bioactivecompounds and bioactivityassays that could lead to thediscovery and development

of novel drugs for treating diseases. Proper legislativeaction and management strategies need to be taken toconserve not only these two species but all thepotentially valuable orchid species in Bangladesh. Astandard protocol needs to be developed for masspropagation through tissue culture to ensure that plantsare available for a range of future uses. All photos by the author

Medicinal Orchids in Brief

Danna J. Leaman, PhDChair, IUCN-SSC Medicinal Plant Specialist Group

djl@green-world.org

How many orchid species are used in medicine? Effortswithin the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group over the lastdecade to compile a Global Checklist of MedicinalPlants have identified more than 400 orchid taxa withdocumented medicinal value, published in apharmacopoeia or described in other authoritativesources. There is still much work to be done, however,to identify accepted names of species and subspecies,even as more taxa are added the Global List, and muchwork to be done to complete conservation statusassessments of all medicinally used orchid species.

Of nearly 1,400 orchid species native to China, “aboutone quarter … are used in traditional medicine or ashealth food supplements” (Liu et al. 2014). A recentlyconcluded regional Red List assessment of medicinalplants included 36 orchid species that occur in Europe,none endemic, two of which were assessed as regionallyth reatened (publ icat ion fo r thcoming a thttp://www.iucnredlist.org/europe/

On a global scale, all orchid species are included in theCITES appendices, but few are found in internationaltrade for their medicinal value at significant volumes. Of note in this regard is Gastrodia elata Blume,distributed in Bhutan, China and Taiwan, North andSouth Korea, India, Japan, Nepal, and Russia. Thisspecies is a saprophyte dependent on the fungusArmillaria mellea (honey mushroom). G. elata rhizomesare widely known in trade as Tian Ma, used in ChineseTraditional Medicine to treat, inter alia, vertigo,dizziness, headache, hypertension, epilepsy, and tetanus(Zhao 2004). This species is currently assessed asglobally Vulnerable based on past population decline(China Plant Specialist Group 2004). As for many wild-collected medicinal plants, development of artificialcultivation techniques for this species have not curbedwild collection of this species because cultivatedmaterial is considered to be inferior in medicinal qualityto wild-collected material, obtaining a lower marketprice (Liu et al 2014).

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Whole and sliced tuber of Gastrodia elata. Photos: U. Schippmann

China Plant Specialist Group 2004. Gastrodia elata.The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version2014.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 22April 2015.

References:

Liu, H., Luo, Y.-B., Heinen, J., Bhat, M. and Liu, Z.-J. 2014. Eat your orchid and have it too: a potentially newconservation formula for Chinese epiphytic medicinalorchids. Biodiversity Conservation 23:1215-1228.

Z h a o, Z. 2004. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medicain Hong Kong. School of Chinese Medicine, Hong KongBaptist University, Hong Kong.

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On The Bookshelf

A Guide to Orchids of Hong KongStephan Gale, Abdelhamid Bizid, Liu Kwok Wai and KinsonChan (2014). Natural History Publications (Borneo)256 photographs + map, Limpback, 168 pagesISBN 978-983-812-155-2

www.nhpborneo.com

A total of 133 orchid specieshave been recorded in HongKong. This full-colour, easy-to-use, field guide compilesimages and data on all 97extant species

Medicinal Orchids of Nepal Bijaya Pant and Bhakta Bahadur Raskoti (2013)104 pages, colour photographs, paperback ISBN-13: 9789937577359

http://www.nhbs.com/title/189971/medicinal-orchids-of-nepal

Orchids of South East BangladeshDiversity, Ecology, Reproductive Biology andConservation. Mohammed Kamrul Huda (2012)316 pages Paperback, LAP Lambert Academic PublishingISBN-10: 3659197637, ISBN-13: 978-365919635

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Food for Thought

The orchid issue of Curtis's is now available electronicallyhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/curt.2015.32.issue-1/issuetoc

Rix, M. (2015). Editorial. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 32: 3-23.

Fay, M. F. (2015). British and Irish orchids in a changingworld. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 32: 3-23.

Fay, M. F. & Taylor, I. (2015). 801. Cypripedium calceolus.Orchidaceae. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 32: 24-32.

Fay, M. F., Sayers, B. & Taylor, I. (2015). 802. Dactylorhizaviridis. Orchidaceae. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 32: 33-41.

Fay, M. F. & Taylor, I. (2015). 803. Ophrys fuciflora.Orchidaceae. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 32: 42-50.

Fay, M. F., Taylor, I. & Sayers, B. (2015). 804. Ophrysinsectifera. Orchidaceae. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 32: 51-62.

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Fay, M. F. & Taylor, I. (2015). 805. Orchis anthropophora.Orchidaceae. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 32: 63-71.

Fay, M. F. & Taylor, I. (2015). 806. Orchis purpurea.Orchidaceae. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 32: 72-81.

Fay, M. F. & Taylor, I. (2015). 807. Cephalanthera rubra.Orchidaceae. Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 32: 82-90.

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MeetingsMark you Calendars!

International Orchid Conservation CongressIOCC6 - Hong Kong

May 16-20, 2016

Four days of conference sessions in downtown HongKong, plus one day for visiting Kadoorie Farm andBotanic Garden (http://www.kfbg.org/eng/), OR a tripinto the Hong Kong countryside to learn aboutchallenges for conservation in the region. Optional pre-or post-conference tours to Mainland China.

IOCC6 will be held in conjunction with theInternational Symposium on Diversity and Conservationof Orchids (ISDCAO). The IOCC6 website will belaunched in May 2015

International Barcode of Life Conference

August 18-21, 2015University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada

http://dnabarcodes2015.org/

The theme of the 6th Conference, Barcodes toBiomes.

5th Andean Orchid ConferenceCali, Columbia

November 19-21, 2015http://andeanorchidconference.org

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Call for conservation news

Members are asked to provide news of their recentconservation activities for publication in the OSG

Conservation News.

Please submit material in Microsoft Word, andillustrations, if any, as separate jpeg files (notembedded), including a caption and photographic credit.

Changes to contact information?

To maintain effective communication, we need toknow of any changes in contact information. Pleaseinform the OSG Chair, Dr. Mike Fay (M.Fay@kew.org)

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