Orchids of the Department of Cauca, II. Regsiters in the Munchique National Park

Abstract

We present this first inventory of the orchids of Munchique National Park and some of its surrounding areas, thanks to an effort coordinated by INDERENA, regional Cauca, together with the Fundación Universitaria de Popayán and the Universidad del Cauca.

A considerable number of the plants that make up the great floral diversity of Colombia, do not have their roots in the ground, they are epiphytes in trees, wrongly called parasites. In a single tree, among those cut to replace a forest in Carpinterías, Munchique region, I counted more than 30 species of epiphytic plants, dominated by orchids, among the phanerogam group, followed by bromeliads, racaceae and gesneriaceae. But these plants, which reach unsuspected prices in the world flower trade, are despised by those who cut trees to use their wood, from which they obtain a much lower profit than what could be obtained with the sale of an orchid bush of large or medium size flower that is lodged in the tree.

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