Native Plants
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Tuesday - January 03, 2012
From: Golden, MS
Region: Southeast
Topic: Rare or Endangered Plants, Seed and Plant Sources
Title: SITES (or CITES) accredited source for native orchids
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Do you know of a nursery which is SITES accredited which offer North American native orchids? I grow as a hobby indoor ones as well as keep my eyes out protecting the outside native ones we have: Spiranthes odorata and Cypripedium parviflora. Thank you.ANSWER:
I commend you for your care and concern for our native orchids. Because orchids are beautiful, unusual and generally grow in very specialized habitats, they are rare or uncommon and need our protection. SITES (Sustainable Sites Initiative) does not currently have a nursery accreditation program; however, I think perhaps you were referring instead to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). You can search the CITES site for references to orchids; but to my knowledge, they don't do accreditation of commercial retail nurseries. Your best bet for finding reputable conservation-minded orchid sources that are growing the plants from nursery stock and not collecting from the wild is through native orchid associations such as:
Native Orchids of Washington State
The Orchid Conservation Alliance
More Rare or Endangered Plants Questions
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Native plants for Pflugerville, TX in blackland soil
March 21, 2008 - Mr. S-P,
I'm perusing the plant sale list for a couple of tall shrubs to plant on the sunny southwest side of my house, in Blackland soil. It is generally dry there because of the sun, but can ge...
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Endangered species of trillium on disturbed soil in New York
April 19, 2006 - Hello, I live in Rochester New York, near a gully/ravine by woodland. Quite a gem. Anyway here's my question and concern. In the past 35 years there have been trillium in small "pockets" or sing...
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