investigator from Martin Luther King Park and Botanic Garden and the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria have made a major preservation discovery by growing one of Australia ’s most beautiful and endangered native orchids , the Queen of Sheba ( Theylmitra variegata ) .
The Queen of Sheba is a native orchid which only grows wild in the south west of Western Australia . It has a single dismal immature , helical shaped folio and up to five glossy , cherry , empurpled or purplish flowers . The flora in this enquiry project were spread from seed collected near Albany and Bunbury .
pouf of Sheba growing in the science laboratory . Photo : DBCA .
orchidaceous plant rely on specific fungus kingdom to germinate their microscopic seed , make some specie extremely difficult to grow in cultivation .
' The Queen of Sheba did not give up her closed book easily , despite our honest crusade , germination continue to result in low-down seedling numbers ' , says King Park Research Scientist Dr Belinda Davis .
The team were finally able to draw out the symbiotic fungus from the base of a angry Queen of Sheba industrial plant and then grow the fungus in a petri dish in the lab , before add orchid germ collected from wild plants . The breakthrough came from determining the nutritionary requirements of the fungus for the first time , ensuring its survival and in the end the survival of the orchids in laboratory consideration . With this new understanding , the team have been able to spud Queen of Sheba seedling in their hundreds for the first time .
The two teams optimise propagation techniques and established permanent populations of the Queen of Sheba at both Kings Park and Botanic Garden and the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria for the purpose of ex situ conservation . These plants will be used for seminal fluid orcharding and eventual introduction back into the wild .
Dr Belinda Davis in the field . Photo : DBCA .
' We were thrilled to discover and repeat the optimal nutrition and weather need to develop this iconic and endangered orchidaceous plant in the lab ' , say Dr Noushka Reiter Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . ‘ As a result , we now have insurance populations at both botanical garden and will be in a place to introduce it back into the natural state in come years ' .
Historically this orchid grew in the heart of Perth ( including the Kings Park bushland ) but loss of home ground through clearing has eliminate many population . It is now cut back to a few pocket-sized and isolated populations between Bunbury and Albany , which have stick out from trample and poaching by people in recent year .
' We are always improving our techniques and approaches and we have now achieved great winner with this charismatic metal money and we can add it to the large number of orchid species in Western Australia that we can now offer conservation root for . optimize the protocols developed for the Queen of Sheba and translate them to some of our other ambitious orchid species will be critical in ensure the preservation of all our orchid plant life ' , Dr Davis says .
