Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Nuturing orchids
Students revive a species decimated by neglect.
The delicate Florida Butterfly orchid, decimated by development and illegal collection over the past century, is about to make a comeback in Palm Beach County.
Students at 12 schools have been attaching them to trees on their campuses, where they are expected to flourish unimpeded over the next six months. Several businesses and clubs are also propagating the fragrant plants, creating a potential native orchid renaissance that is already spreading through South Florida.
The flowers are budding as part of the Million Orchid Project, a plan developed by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables to replenish South Florida’s native orchids in urban settings.
More than 100 schools in Miami-Dade and Broward, as well as several cities, have been attaching the plants to trees for the past few years. But Palm Beach County’s plantings are in the earlier stages, said Ray Coleman, executive director of Florida Atlantic University’s Pine Jog Environmental Education Center.
“Their natural habitat has disappeared,” Coleman said. “This is a great way for kids to learn about how changes in the natural system have repercussions.”
The Million Orchid Project started in 2012, after Fairchild garden officials observed a similar propagation project in Singapore, said Jason Downing, a Fairchild conservation biologist. Now four sites in
Miami-Dade are growing the plants and introducing them to native trees, making sure to attach only orchids that are native to the area and won’t crowd out local native flora, he said.
Orchids thrived throughout South Florida more than a century ago, adhering themselves to native trees such as oak and mahogany. But many species disappeared as the railroad came through beginning in the 19th century and developers ripped out trees for houses and shopping centers.
Now orchids are most often found for sale in grocery stores and garden centers. Most wild orchids are soil-less plants that live primarily off air and graft themselves to rough barks, especially on native trees such as oaks and cypress.
Pine Jog has been propagating 10 varieties in its lab, Coleman said. Two are now ready for planting: the Butterfly, which has sepals and petals in yellow, copper, green, or bronze and a white and purple center lip, and the endangered Dancing Lady, which grows in bouquets of white petals with a yellow fleshy center.
Thousands of orchid seedlings spent a year in Pine Jog’s labs before growing under warm lights 12 hours a day in Palm Beach County school science classrooms.
“I didn’t know anything about orchids before this,” said Brianne Christianson, 13, an Eagles Landing Middle School seventhgrader. “I just knew they were hard to take care of.”
Students attached them to trees on Eagles Landing’s campus recently with liquid nail adhesive and recorded their GPS coordinates so future classes can easily locate them.
“I love being able to help the planet and give these flowers a chance,” said Felice Leal, 13, a seventh grader. “The best part of the project was hanging them up here today after watching how they have grown. It’s like having your child grow up. It happens so fast.”