More than 1,000 rare plants are to feature in the Taichung World Flora Exposition, which opens on Nov. 3 and is to run through April 24 next year, turning the venue in Waipu District (外埔) into a “Noah’s Ark of plants,” organizers said yesterday.
The rare plants, which are to be exhibited at the venue’s Agri-Tech and Conservation Pavilion, are provided by the Dr Cecilia Koo Botanic Conservation Center in Pingtung County to showcase Taiwan’s plant conservation efforts.
The first batch of plants, including giant orchids (Grammatophyllum speciosum) and spleenworts (Asplenium), have already arrived at the pavilion, the Taichung City Government’s Agriculture Bureau said yesterday, adding that it has also finished setting up a display of bryophytes.
Photo: Huang Chung-shan, Taipei Times
Giant orchids can weigh more than 1 tonne and their inflorescences can be as tall as 3m, the bureau said.
They have yellow, spotted flowers and bloom for more than two months, it said.
At the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, organizers exhibited a giant orchid that weighed nearly 2 tonnes, it added.
The giant orchids at the Taichung exhibition would be taller than an average adult, it said, adding that giant orchids are mostly grown outdoors due to their size.
The Koo Center is dedicated to collecting and conserving tropical and subtropical plant species from around the world, the bureau said.
It is the world’s first private tropical plant conservation park, and is only open to academic institutions, schools and botanical gardens for research purposes, it said, adding that the center’s goal is to collect 30,000 plant species by 2020.
The pavilion is to highlight a research partnership between Taiwan and the Solomon Islands Ministry of Forestry and Research to investigate the archipelago’s plant resources, digitize its plant records and carry out other conservation work, the organizers said.
The 14.32-hectare Waipu Park Area is one of three venues of the exposition. The others are in the city’s Fengyuan (豐原) and Houli (后里) districts.
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