Equatorial Plants was formed in 1975, producing a small range of orchids as ‘test tube babies’. Through expeditions to Brazil and Papua New Guinea, and by cooperation with Botanical Gardens, our range increased until hundreds of species were being cultivated. The plants are grown as seedlings on a sterile agar gel. Since orchids in nature depend on a fungus to germinate their seed, we have to compromise by growing them on a sugary medium. This means they have to be grown in bottles in sterile conditions until they are fit to emerge and be potted up.
So Equatorial Plants is a laboratory producing seedlings in bottles or ‘flasks’. But we also have a range of species from our extensive lists that are ‘established’ or potted, and in some case mounted on bark in the way they would grow in nature on the branches of trees.
Here’s more about the story of Equatorial Plants.