Project Update: November 2015 Field surveys at the end of the rainy season were conducted from August to September 2015. Ten terrestrial and two epiphytic orchid species were recorded. The ethnobotanical survey showed that the local population has little knowledges of orchid species and this varies with ethnic groups. Only 33% of inventoried species (Calyptrochilum christyanum, Habenaria cirrhata, Nervilia kotschyi and Eulophia guineensis) were known and really used by local population. From this survey, Eulophia horsfallii, Habenaria filicornis, Habenaria schimperiana, Platycoryne paludosa and Plectrelminthus caudatus were not known or used by the local population. This could be explained by their absence in the land use area. The habitat of these orchid species was mainly located in the core zone of the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve under strict protection.
All these data will be analysed and effectively communicated to conservation practitioners and local communities in the next step of the project.
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Habenaria cirrhata individual on its main host tree, Syzygium guineense.
Nervilia kotschyi leaves.
Talk on Orchide species at Ve workshop of Université d’Abomey-Calavi, 28th September to 3th October 2015.