Costa Rica
Orchid Society of Minnesota
March 2006 Trip to Panama and Costa Rica
Orquideas Tropicales, El Dorado, Panama. Left to right: Gaspar Silvera, Jim Andre, Mary Cheleen, Megan Beck Kohls, John Cheleen, Sue Beck, Rod Knowles, and Linda Sizer.
(March 2006)
Lankester Botanic Garden, Costa Rica. Left to right: Rod Knowles, John Cheleen, Mary Cheleen, Kerry Dressler, Megan Beck Kohls, Sue Beck, Linda Moskalik, Tom Moskalik, Jim Andre, Dick Rottschafer, and Joy Rogers.
(March 2006)
In the Central Valley of Costa Rica, one man has gathered a great number of plants of Cattleya skinneri (now Guaria morado, an old Costa Rican name for the plant) and displayed them in a virtual "forest." The image above shows a very small section of that "forest."
(March 2006)
Costa Rican Orchid Websites to Visit
SACRO at the Asociación Costarricense de Orquideología. If you locate this site through Google, you can elect to have an English translation. The SACRO Foundation has a multi-faceted program of orchid conservation, one which includes early, active conservation education of school children.
ORQUIDEAS del bosque, an eco-friendly exporter of native Costa Rican orchids. http://www.costaricanorchids.com/ and
Lankester Botanical Gardens, an orchid identification and research center. Visitors in May, 2005 were fortunate to meet Robert L. Dressler (author of Field guide to the orchids of Costa Rica and Panama (1993). Ithaca, NY: Comstock Publishing Associates) as he was identifying plants. http://costa-rica-guide.com/parks/lankest.htm.
(March 2006)