Cuban Garden Reproduces Orchids through Veg Biotech

Famous for its collection of Cuban exotic varieties, Soroa Orchid Garden uses today techniques of vegetable biotechnology to reproduce orchid species on a large scale. Founded several decades ago, the in-vitro-plant laboratory of the garden, the largest of its kind in Cuba, reproduces endangered species to reinsert them later on their natural environment, Research Director Elaine Gonzalez told the news agency Prensa Latina.

Another purpose is to support the maerketing of some types of orchids, distinguished by their modified petals.

Located in the western Reserve of Sierra del Rosario Biosphere, such garden dates from 1943.

Currently, it exhibits over 480 orchid varieties, heritage that survives in places covered with thin blankets and in the open air, despite the impact of successive hurricanes, the specialist remarked.

Soroa, which belongs now to the province of Artemisa, is much more than a landscape to admire, Gonzalez said.

Studying and preserving orchids, also known as 'ladies of the vegetable kingdom' turns out to be a great effort by all workers at the garden,' she said.

Soroa, around 70 kilometers from Havana, is annually visited by millions of national and foreign travelers, attracted by the beauty of the place and its flower heritage, which includes other botanic families.

Almost a third of the Cuban orchids live in the country's western region.