Abstract

EMETERIO-LARA, Aucencia; PALMA-LINARES, Vladimira; VAZQUEZ-GARCIA, Luis Miguel  and  MEJIA-CARRANZA, Jaime. Uses and trade of wild orchids in the southern region of the State of Mexico. Polibotánica [online]. 2016, n.42, pp.197-214. ISSN 1405-2768.  https://doi.org/10.18387/polibotanica.42.10.

The State of Mexico comprises some regions with a vast diversity of wild species of orchids that are appreciated and used for different purposes. Its use has raised extraction from its habitat, which is unknown to its intensity and the number of affected species. The objective of the present study was to identify the wild species of orchids and their use, sold in local markets and by street vendors in six municipalities in the southern region of the State of Mexico. An ethnographic and documentary survey from the pre-Hispanic period to the present day was carried out to identify the marketed wild orchids, their use and context of extraction. The extracted species were Laelia autumnalis (La Llave & Lex.) Lindl., Trichocentrum pachyphyllum (Hook.) R Jimenez & Carnevali, Prosthechea squalida (key & Lex.), Prosthechea karwinskii Mart, Oncidium unguiculatum Lindl., and Stanhopea hernandezii Bateman ex Lindl., which are sold mainly during the autumn period by street vendors, whose number has increased by more than 50% in the last eight years. Tenancingo, strategic commercial point of the South of the State of Mexico, was the municipality where the largest number of species of orchids was offered. The municipalities of greater extraction were Malinalco and Tenancingo, suggesting that points of trade are not directly associated with the collection, but rather to demand points. The species L. autumnalis was the most collected and sold since it offered the highest number of uses which, in hierarchical order, were ornamental, medicinal and edible; the first, specifically for the decoration of Christmas births, churches, altars, tombs and gardens, together with other vascular as bromeliads, cacti, bryophytes and some crassulacean. The results showed that the uses, which have varied historically, and the availability of the species, are factors that determine the intensity of collection.

Keywords : wild orchids; extraction; uses; commercialization.