This orchid, like most other orchids native to Florida, was brought to the brink of extinction when, starting in the 1800s, settlers exploited the seemingly unbounded supply of tropical orchids, removing them in enormous quantities from their habitat as plants to sell in northern states.Urban development and agriculture in Florida subsequently claimed almost all remaining native orchid habitats.The combined result of this history is that a minute fraction of original population sizes of native orchids remain.Orchids are wind pollinated and most require extremely specific conditions for their dust-sized seeds to grow, including precise humidity, light, and connection with fungal symbionts.Although mature plants produce millions of seeds the probability of survival is tremendously slim and small populations cannot survive on their own.
Prosthechea boothiana has been targeted by the “Million Orchid Program” at the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden as one of five orchid species to reintroduce into oak and mahogany host trees in urban Miami neighborhoods in an “unlimited quantity” to relieve these species from threat of extinction. The program aims to micropropagate thousands of individual orchids at a time in test tubes and recruit community volunteers and K-12 students to plant the seedlings in appropriate locations and follow their progress.The goal is to reestablish enough individuals throughout urban environments that the orchids will be able to reproduce on their own, be resilient to any collection they may be susceptible to, and along with associated education programs make these species and the plight of fragile native Florida habitats visible to city dwellers and visitors.The other orchid species in culture at Fairchild are: Bletia purpurea, Encyclia tampensis, Cyrtopodium punctatum and Prosthechea cochleata.
A similar program through the Singapore Botanic Gardens has succeeded in restoration of native orchids in urban Singapore.
The dollar orchid, Prosthechea boothiana, gets its name from its shiny green discoid-shaped pseudobulbs. Also called Booth’s orchid, it is a miniature/small epiphyte living on small trees in warm, low-elevation tidal swamps, dry scrub forest, tropical deciduous forests, hammocks and thickets throughout its native West Indies, Mexico and in southern Florida.The dollar orchid flowers July-September, an inflorescence of 1-5 simultaneous flowers on a simple stalk growing from a new pseudobulb.The long-lasting, waxy flowers are about 2 cm (0.74 inches) across, a greenish-tan in color with reddish purple blotches, sometimes with magenta on its greenish-white lip.
In Florida, it is thought that the dollar orchid has no pollinators since the only variety found is the three-anthered, self-pollinating (autogamous) form Prosthechea boothiana var. erythronioides.It is exceedingly rare in its native habitat; the Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) lists this variety as critically imperiled in Florida.The Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC) South Florida listing classifies it as imperiled, found in three counties to which it is native (Monroe (Keys), Monroe (Mainland) and Miami-Dade) and possibly extirpated in a fourth (Martin County) Like all native Floridian orchids it is illegal to collect in the wild.It is cultivated, and available from nurseries.Variety erythronioides is also native to the Bahamas but seldom found elsewhere in the P. boothiana range, where the single-anther bearing variety is found instead.
The dollar orchid is recently a target of the “million orchid program” at the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden as one of five orchid species for copious laboratory micropropagation in an effort to re-establish the species into urban parts of its native distribution (a complement to other existing orchid reintroduction projects focused on natural areas).
(Gann et al. 2014; Lodyga 2011; Pfahl 2014; Flora of North America; Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden 2013)
The dollar orchid,Prosthechea boothiana, is a miniature/small epiphyte living on small trees in warm, low-elevation tidal swamps, dry scrub forest, tropical deciduous forests, hammocks and thickets throughout its native West Indies, Mexico and in southern Florida.In Florida and the Bahamas, the pollinator is thought to be absent, since in these locations only the form Prosthechea boothiana var. erythronioides is found.This form is three-anthered and self-pollinating (autogamous) and is seldom found elsewhere in the P. boothiana range - the single-anther bearing variety is found instead.
The native Floridian P. b. erythronioides is exceedingly rare in its native habitat; the Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) lists this variety as critically imperiled in Florida.The Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC) South Florida listing classifies it as imperiled, found in three counties to which it is native (Monroe (Keys), Monroe (Mainland) and Miami-Dade) and possibly extirpated in a fourth (Martin County) Like all native Floridian orchids it is illegal to collect in the wild.It is cultivated, and available from nurseries.
The Florida dollar orchid is recently a target of the “million orchid program” at the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden (Miami, Florida) as one of five orchid species for copious laboratory micropropagation in an effort to re-establish the species into urban Miami area (a complement to other existing orchid reintroduction projects focused on natural areas).
(Gann et al. 2014; Lodyga 2011; Pfahl 2014;Flora of North America; Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden 2013)
Prosthechea boothiana var.erythronioides (the Florida dollar orchid),like most other orchids native to Florida, was brought to the brink of extinction when, starting in the 1800s, settlers exploited the seemingly unbounded supply of tropical orchids, removing them in enormous quantities from their habitat as plants to sell in northern states.Urban development and agriculture in Florida subsequently claimed almost all remaining native orchid habitats.The combined result of this history is that a minute fraction of original population sizes of native orchids remain. These orchids are wind pollinated and require extremely specific conditions for their dust-sized seeds to grow, including precise humidity, light, and connection with fungal symbionts.Although mature plants produce millions of seeds the probability of survival is tremendously slim and small populations cannot survive on their own.
The Florida dollar orchidhas been targeted by the “Million Orchid Program” at the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden as one of five orchid species to reintroduce into oak and mahogany host trees in urban Miami neighborhoods in an “unlimited quantity” to relieve these species from threat of extinction. The program aims to micropropagate thousands of individual orchids at a time in test tubes and recruit community volunteers and K-12 students to plant the seedlings in appropriate locations and follow their progress.The goal is to reestablish enough individuals throughout urban environments that the orchids will be able to reproduce on their own, be resilient to any collection they may be susceptible to, and along with associated education programs make these species and the plight of fragile native Florida habitats visible to city dwellers and visitors.The other orchid species in culture at Fairchild are: Bletia purpurea, Encyclia tampensis, Cyrtopodium punctatum and Prosthechea cochleata.
A similar program through the Singapore Botanic Gardens has succeeded in restoration of native orchids in urban Singapore.
(Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden 2013; Florida of North America; Wing 2013)
