The hunting of tropical lowland wetland orchids, especially in the mountains of Meratus is so great, following the booming ornamental plant business in Indonesia lately. This triggered the emergence of the traders of impromptu ornamental plants.
Who is not stunned and groovy with the elegance of orchids , especially from various species of orchid forest is now traded easily so that all orchid lovers can get it easily. But the price is still soaring, even for certain orchids the economic value is still very high. Unfortunately, they are selling not ornamental plants cultivated, but take from nature.
With the soaring economic value of these traded orchids , this provides another perception, as if to tell us that forest products other than timber are still largely ignored and are not taken into account in policy planning that still views the forest only from the wood alone , whereas wood from the forest is no more than 5 percent of the total forest value.
Large-scale Meratus forest orchid took place in 1980, said a researcher from Europe at Mount Halao-halao. Now, the most complete collection of Meratus orchids is found in the Botanical Garden in London, England. This area is a target because it is very rich with orchids. In fact, the Meratus expedition by YCHI in 2005 alone found more than 100 species of forest orchids.
Several species of orchids that are traded are not only orchid merely but also from various other forest orchids in Indonesia is a protected species. Types of orchid / tiger (Grammatophyllum speciosum) and black orchid (Coelogyne pandurata) for example, are rare orchids protected by government regulations.
In fact, the types of orchids are traded in a rough way, such as black orchids are cut into stems without treatment to facilitate the sale, it is very potential to make the orchid to die.
Therefore, the development of orchid traders and orchid-making communities in the forest should be considered by the government, so that those who do orchid business can treat these orchids in accordance with the potential for growth and development so as not easy to die.