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Protecting lady’s slipper in the orchid family
There is a kind of orchids which has an amazing shape as the fairy tales Cinderella who wearing the glass shoes in the ball. A tale said it was the goddess came to the human world and left the shoes accidentally. Coincidentally, this kind of orchids was called Paphiopedilum in Latin which in Chinese it has the meaning of “the feet of the goddess”. Therefore, what kind of flower has such unique and precious character that it is “Paphiopedilum”.
Sipper orchids have a variety of patterns and colors. Flower industry will be used to cut flowers, potted plants or combinations of pots to use. Become another option on a gift or venue arrangement. In Taiwan Sipper orchids cultivated area of about 8 hectares, the central and southern as the main origin. In recent years, domestic production of the main seed for export to Japan, the United States and Europe. The annual export of about 5 million seedlings; cut flowers are mainly exported to Japan, each year about 4 million branches.
Because the shape and colours of Paphiopedilum are treasured around the world which leads to much intentional or recklessly damaging of the Paphiopedilum to prevent over picking of wild Paphiopedilum. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has listed Paphiopedilum and Phragmipedium in the appendix I. Also, picking these species in the wild were forbidden to trade in the international. In order to reduce the stress of over picking these wild species, only those seeds and seedlings by man-made breeding can be traded. For developing the industry of Slipper orchids in Taiwan, Council of Agriculture established the registration and Export of artificially cultivated slipper orchids in Taiwan. Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station was assigned as an executive organization to assist application work.
There were 20 registered nurseries cultivated orchid for the artificial propagated farms in 2016, and they applied for 314 Export Agreement Documents. The estimated total export value was about NT$ 19.41 million. Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station said protect the original breeds and improve the industry in order to declare the determination of CITES.