Orchids and Fungus: A Conservation Connection
Smithsonian InstitutionOrchids make up 10 percent of the world's plant species; more than 50 percent of native orchids in North America are listed as threatened or endangered in some part of their home range. Botanist Dennis Whigham and his colleagues at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, Md., are doing their part to conserve these beautiful flowers by studying the interactions between orchids and fungi.