All over the world, unique flowering plants are increasingly threatened by the clearing of the forests where most orchids are found.
Deep in the northwestern forests of Colombia, an enthusiast has amassed a motley collection of nearly 25,000 orchids, some of which he has cloned to protect them from extinction.
Colombia, which will host the UN Biodiversity Summit COP16 later this year, has the largest number of orchid species in the world and new varieties are being discovered regularly.
All over the world, unique flowering plants are increasingly threatened by the clearing of the forests where most orchids are found.
62-year-old agrotechnologist Daniel Piedrachita has made it his life's mission to protect the flowers in his sanctuary, called "Soul of the Forest", in La Seja, a town in the department of Antioquia.
"An orchid? I'll define it for you in one word: perfection," Piedrachita told AFP.
He describes his collection of more than 5,000 species as "a genetic bank that I'm in charge of... to make sure that each one reproduces perfectly."
The reserve is home to around twenty species that are globally endangered and which Piedrahita dreams of returning to their original habitats.
It is also a laboratory for breeding orchids unique to Colombia, such as Anguloa Brevilabris or Dracula Nosferatu.
In nature, most orchids rely on a certain type of insect, bee or bird for pollination.
In the laboratory, Piedrachita pollinates them to obtain a so-called "pure clone" - a seed capsule, the fruit of the orchid flower, which can contain millions of seeds. Building an orchid to flower from seed can take years.
He describes his mission to return orchids to nature as his "moral, personal duty."
The first orchid that Piedrachita cloned two years ago was the national flower of Guatemala - Lycaste Skinneri, known as the "white nun".
The orchid is considered extinct in the wild in Guatemala and barely survives in southern Mexico.
"The seeds are now being developed in the laboratory so that in a few years we can reintroduce this species so that it does not get lost again," says Piedrachita.
His next goal is to clone Colombian varieties of endangered orchids. | BGNES
