Botanic gardens are repositories of global plant diversity and have a crucial role to play in the ex situ conservation of locally threatened taxa,as espoused in the Global Strategy of Plant Conservation.Living collections of orchids can be a particularly important resource for conservation,because members of this large and diverse family continue to be placed at risk of extinction due to habitat destruction and over-exploitation for horticulture and medicine,especially in the tropics,despitet heir international trade being restricted by CITES.