A Central American icon. Endangered in the wild — but quietly thriving on our reserve.
Few orchids in cultivation are as instantly recognisable. The vermilion-orange flowers of Prosthechea vitellina have been celebrated since the species was first introduced to European collections in the 19th century — yet in the wild it remains in retreat across most of its range.
Within our reserve, P. vitellina is one of the most abundant epiphytic orchids — a striking contrast with its broader status as an endangered species. The population is centred on the high-canopy oaks of our riparian primary forest fragment, where humidity remains high through the dry season.
The local abundance illustrates a broader principle: even small, well-managed forest fragments can sustain dense populations of species that are otherwise in decline. Protecting these fragments — and preventing the loss of the large host trees the orchids depend on — is among the highest-leverage actions we take.
We track flowering individuals annually, document seed-set in a subset of the population, and use the reserve population as a source of provenance-matched seed for symbiotic propagation. We are working toward a formal IUCN regional assessment for the species.