This is a Pandora box and no one can accurately estimate the revenue generated from orchids used in traditional medicines. Orchids used in traditional medicines can be traced to every corner of the globe.
I published a paper back around 2008 (The future of wild Chinese orchids used in traditional medicines) when I was going around to TCM shops (Traditional Chinese Medicine) I found allot of hostility arose by me telling them the information would be published. Many TCM shops refused to talk to me or my wife the translator. I have had many students at the university that were students of TCM, so I was able to see their books and labs. What I found was the books made many claims about the great healing powers of orchids and many other things, but failed to give references to any scientific research that could in anyway substantiate the statement.
Here in China TCM is targeted at the poor, old, and many religious faiths. It is an enormous business some people are respectable and truth full and qualified to practice TCM medicine. But many are money grubbers who try to pass themselves off as TCM doctors will lie and cheat for the money.
I tried to publish a 26 page paper here in China about the wild collecting illicit trade in orchids used in TCM and not one Chinese publisher would accept it. Many said it would cause a back lash that many illicit TCM suppliers and doctors have been known to kill over. Many orchids are given false names and trade names to avoid detection by CITES, Customs. My paper would have exposed all this on goings even the University refused to help me publish it. The wild orchid population used in TCM in China is near decimated, Vietnam, Loa, Cambodia nearly all the surrounding countries to China, are smuggling wild orchids from their countries in to China for profit.
But here are some orchid names that are used in Traditional Medicine and by no means is this a complete list.
Cypripedium. Parvifolium, Cypripedium. Acaule, Cypripedium. Reginae, Cypripedium. Candidum, Cypripedium. Parvifolium, Cypripedium. calceolus
The UNEP-WCMC CITES Trade Database figures for Cypripedium exports demonstrate that during the last decade living plants constituted the major trade and that most of these were classed as artificially propagated (CITES Trade Database 2007). A report generated during September 2007 indicates that over three-thousand living plants were exported during 2006, but fewer than 2000 “dried plants” and “roots” were exported during the eleven-year period 1996-2006 (derived from CITES Trade Database 2007). Dried plants and roots could be used for various purposes, but living plants are being used to supply plant collectors. The collection of Cypripedium for medicinal purposes has become much less important in their conservation than the harvest of wild plants to supply orchid collectors (CITES 1992, McGough et al. 2006). In fact, the CITES recommendation for monitoring trade in medicinal orchid products in China includes two genera, but not Cypripedium (CITES 2000). Likewise, most instances of “poaching” of lady’s slipper orchids in the United States do not appear to be for medicinal purposes (NatureServe 2007). The American Herbal Products Association’s Tonnage Survey of North American Wild-harvested Plants, 2004-2005 (AHPA 2007), does not include figures for Cypripedium products.
Bletilla formosana, Bletilla ochracea, Bletilla striata, Calanthe alpina, Calanthe tricarinata, Cremastra appendiculata, Dendrobium aurantiacum, Dendrobium brymerianum, Dendrobium christyanum, Dendrobium chrysotoxum, Dendrobium crepidatum, Dendrobium densiflorum, Dendrobium devonianum, Dendrobium falconeri, Dendrobium gratiosissimum, Dendrobium hancockii, Dendrobium henryi, Dendrobium huoshanense, Dendrobium longicornu, Dendrobium moniliforme, Dendrobium nobile, Dendrobium officinale, Dendrobium pendulum, Dendrobium thyrsiflorum, Dendrobium trigonopus, Dendrobium williamsonii, Gymnadenia conopsea, Gymnadenia orchids, Geodorum densiflorum, Gastrodia elata, Nervilia fordii, Nervilia plicata, Oreorchis erythrochrysea, Oreorchis fargesii, Pholidota chinensis, Pholidota yunnanensis, Pleione bulbocodioides.
In China the reality is no orchid genus is safe from TCM, and until the regulations are enforced by the letter of the law. The conservation efforts for wild orchids within and around the surrounding countries of China will have little to no effect at all.
Statistics: Posted by OCRC_Dir_China — Mon Feb 02, 2015 2:28 am