Lecture: Native Orchids in Hong Kong and Mainland China with Gloria Siu

Orchids have always held a fascination for people with their beautiful, colourful and unique flower structure. The diversity of the orchid family (orchidaceae) is rich and unique in China, as the country spans the tropical, sub-tropical and temperate zones. More than 1,200 species (of which about 450 species are endemic to China) in about 170 genera recorded so far, make Orchidaceae one of the top three families of flowering plants in China.

Many of them are famous worldwide. Hong Kong is a part of the South China region and is located in the inter-phase of the northern boundary of the tropics and southern boundary of the sub-tropics, and hence the diversity of native orchids is also rich. There are 123 species and 4 varieties in 54 genera of native orchids in Hong Kong, representing some 10% of the total number of orchid species found in China. A general introduction to native orchids in Hong Kong and Mainland China will be presented with picturesque orchid slides.

The speaker

Ms. Gloria Lai Ping Siu, Chairperson of East Asia Regional Orchid Specialist Group, Orchid Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and Vice-Chairman of Orchid Conservation Committee, China Wild Plant Conservation Association, PRC. She has focused on plant conservation, particularly on orchids in Hong Kong and Mainland China since 1996. She has contributed to books and journals such as Orchid Conservation in South China. In Proceedings of orchid evolutionary biology and conservation: from Linnaeus to the 21st century (2007; co-organized by the Royal Botanic
Gardens of Kew and the Linnean Society of London), A new species of Anoectochilus Blume (Orchidaceae) from China. Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 40(2): 164-166 (2002) and Paphiopedilum dianthum in south-west China. The Orchid Review 107(1129): 289-291(1999). She has widely lectured in research institutes, botanical gardens and conferences in China, U.K., Australia and France.