Orhidee Romania

Orchids in Romania

When we are speaking of orchids, almost all of us think about some spectacular flowers we can see in flower-shops, greenhouses or documentaries on National Geographic. When you say Ladyslipper or Twayblade, some people may know that the discussion is about orchids.

But,

if you say Lady's tresses you might be looked upon as somebody who makes up names just to impress your audience. All these plants do exist however. They are mentioned in “The flora of Romania” (1972, vol. XII), and they are all orchids.

They are the domestic orchids of Romania! They are the domestic orchids of Europe!

In almost all European countries, orchids are protected by the law. In our country, only the Lady slipper and the Nigritella Rubra have been granted this privilege, thanks to a couple of laws from the years 1938-1939. Because of the lack of education in the domain of nature protection, many orchid locations have been destroyed. Our club is launching an action of understanding the natural values and the importance to protect them. Orchids are some of our natural values.

A Lady slipper is beautiful on the meadow it grows on, not in a vase!

Some old and new ways by which domestic orchid-populations are being destroyed:

1 A flower-bouquet from the last picnic.

If we went for a nice picnic in the green grass and we felt good, we also pick some flowers. We pick the most beautiful. It is very possible to have picked some orchids too. On the market, you can find hundreds of bouquets of wild daffodils, … . Until now, I have not heard of any action of any authority to stop this poaching from going on.

2. Fertilizing with manure or even worse, with ammonium nitrate.

Orchids are plants which grow on poor soils. That’s why the fertilizer destroys them. What's worse, is, that the mycorhiza with which the orchids grow in symbiosis is being destroyed.

3. Expansion of buildings and building areas.

Most if the holiday-homes are being built in mountainous regions populated with domestic orchids. The owners don’t know much about nature and simply destroy the native vegetation through ballasting, lawns, cementing, paving, etc… They do all this to make the holiday-home better-looking and more comfortable.

4. Forrest exploitation

Without control, entire ecosystems are being destroyed. By destroying the forest, the specific forest vegetation is also being destroyed. The trees are not the only ones which disappear. The plants which found shelter under their leafy crowns die too. Even if the terrestrial orchids would survive, the heavy machines coming in after the trees have been cut down, would destroy the soil and hence kill off all remaining flora.

We hear more and more about houses and even villages being swept away and swallowed by landslides. A good part of those examples have been due to uncontrolled tree-cutting. Houses and villages disappear, but so does the vegetation specific to the terrain. A part of that vegetation is domestic orchids.

5. Infrastructure development

We have to develop our infrastructure! Roads and streets have to be widened, highways have to be built. So do gas stations, motels, parking lots. In many cases, the vegetation of those parts is being affected. We know of many cases, where entire orchid populations have disappeared under the wheels of bulldozers, under the concrete of parking lots and under tons of asphalt. I have yet to hear about a study about the impact of infrastructure projects on the vegetation. There may be a few. Fact is, with or without them, the domestic orchids have disappeared.

6. Lack of civilization

We observe the acute lack of civilization daily. Thousands of tons of garbage is being thrown out randomly: on the streets, out of moving cars, on the outskirts of cities… To escape from this filth, people go to take in some “fresh air” in the mountains, on meadows, in a glade. After they leave, the place they left is so full of garbage; it resembles the one they fled from in the first place.

Many times, to take a picture of an orchid, one has to remove several plastic bottles, cans and other packaging to obtain an “honorable” picture; even in a natural park like Piatra Craiului.

7. Outdoor-fun trends

We recently undertook a trip to a meadow in a valley, bordered by two mountain ranges. The forest road was closed with a locked barrier. We were looking for orchids but we found something completely different: three ATV’s were ploughing through the meadow with their wheels at full speed, throwing pieces of grass and soil all over. Further on, there were 4 guys with their Motocross Motorcycles, kneading the soil of the woods in their attempts to climb the hill. After both groups departed, satisfied with the adrenaline rush they got, the place looked like it had been bombarded. The meadow and the forest shelter domestic orchids. If they can survive.