Orchids and Their Lives Full of Fame Vol. 2

     Have you ever thought about whether there is an unlimited food resources in nature? Think about water cycle while drinking some water. Biologically usable fresh water percent is only 0.0001 of total water reserve of earth. As an Orchid researcher, I should focus your interest to Orchids. I think most of you know that salep is made from grinding the dried tubers of some terrestrial Orchids. This Orchids should have ovoid tubers such as Orchis mascula, Orchis militaris etc. I’ ve told about etymology of salep word in my previous article. So it is time to talk about how many Orchid tubers are collected to make salep every year. I know your answer will be “many”, but nobody knows how wild Orchid population is destroyed to make salep. According to Table 2 from Sezik (1984), in first column you see local names of some Orchids using to make salep. The most widely used Orchid is “Muğla Salebi”, its scientific name is Orchis anatolica. Near 4.348.000 tubers for 1000kg. Please think that near 15.000 kg of salep is being exported every year. Total number increases to 65.220.000 tubers. You should add same number for domestic use. Total 130.440.000 tubers.

Table 2: Tuber numbers in 1000g and 1000kg salep (from Sezik, 1984) (6).

     Good news, salep exports were prohibited in 1996 in Turkey. Please check The List of Prohibited Goods to International Trade. But still salep collectors destroy Orchids in Turkey for domestic trade. Millions of Orchid tubers are collected every year. 

     We are as Orchid lovers, have to make people conscious about saving natural resources and their sustainability. This natural resources are not only belong with us, but also next generations have right on them. 

     In the third part of article I try to explain “The Orchid Wealth of Turkey” with numbers.


                                                                                                  Kaan HÜRKAN
                                                                                                 Biologist, M.Sc.

References

6) Sezik, E., 1984. Orkidelerimiz. Sandoz Kültür Yayınları No:6.

Orchids and Their Lives Full of Fame Vol. 1

     Dear Orchid lovers. As you know Orchidaceae (Orchid family) is believed to be the largest family of flowering plants, with approximately 21950 – 26049 species in 880 genera (1 & 2). To better understand it well we can compare this number with bird species and mammal species. The Orchid species number is more than twice of all bird species and about four times of mammal species of the world. This is a big number, isn’t it? Not enough? OK, think that it encompasses 6 – 11% of all seed plants… We can show more stunning numbers. Anyway, I think you’ ve satisfied.

   The largest genera of Orchidaceae is Bulbophyllum with 2000 species. After Bulbophyllum we can order Epidendrum (1500 species), Dendrobium (1400 species) and Pleurothallis (1000 species). After some systematic features of Orchidaceae we can explore the uses of Orchids.

     According to Reinnika (2003), Orchids were cultivated 3000 years ago in China (3). These plants were known the symbol of love, richness and beauty. Maybe this is the reason why women love Orchids?
     Chinese the most famous philosopher Confucius has named Orchids as “The King of Fragrant Plants”. In addition to their aesthetic beauties, Orchids were used as food, herbal drog, decorative item and aphrodisiac (4). Many thing to tell Orchids’ fame; one of the best way is Shakespeare’ s Hamlet. He explains two Orchid species like this;

“…There is a willow grows aslant a brook,

That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;

There with fantastic garlands did she come,

Of crow – flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,

That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,

But our cold maids do dead men’ s fingers call them…”

In this lyric, the “long purples” dedicated to Orchis mascula, and the “dead men’ s finger” is dedicated to Orchis latifolia.

In many lyrics, many stories and the depts of history, people are always influenced by Orchids. And now these plants are endangered by Salep collectors.

Salep is a flour that made from grinding the dried tubers of some Orchids which have ovoid tubers such as Orchis mascula, Orchis militaris etc. These ovoid tubers have starch – like polysaccaride called glucomannan. Salep is traditional drink in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and some middle east countries. The salep name, comes from Arabic “ḥasyu al-tha`lab” sentence. It means “fox testicles”  in English. And “Orchid” also means testicle in Greek. Turkish people calls this drink as “Salep”. Hereafter I will call its name as “Salep”.

The drogs made from Orchids were used in many medical and herbal cures in past. Please see Table 1, you will find uses of drogs made from Orchids.

Table 1: Uses of terrestrial European Orchids (Bulpitt, 2005)(5).

As you can see in the Table 1, medicinal uses of Orchids have widespread using area. This is the reason why Orchids being destroyed for many years. The most common usages of Orchids are in form of food.


                                                                                        Kaan HÜRKAN
                                                                                       Biologist, M.Sc.

In the second part of my article I will talk on the stories of being destroyed of Orchids and Salep. I’ m sure you will be interested…

  

References

1) Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website Version 9, June 2008.

2)  World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Retrieved 2010.

3) Reinnikka, M. A., 1997. A History of Orchid. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.

4) Kreutz, C. A. J., 2009. Türkiye Orkideleri. Rota Yayınları, Türkiye. ISBN: 978-605-4015-07-8.

5) Bulpitt, C. J., 2005. The Uses And Misuses of Orchids in Medicine. Occasional paper. Q J Med 2005; 98:625–631.

Mount IDA (NW of Turkey) and Biodiversity

           What is Biodiversity?

The word "biodiversity" is a contracted version of "biological diversity". The Convention on Biological Diversity defines biodiversity as: "The variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems" (1). 

Biodiversity of Turkey

Turkey is at the intersection of three biogeographic hotspots (Caucasus, Mediterranean and Irano-Anatolian). Thus often variable climatic and geographic features generate a rich biodiversity.

The number of spineless animal species in Turkey is approximately 19000 and 4000 of them is endemic for Turkey, at the same time more than 100 species of 1500 vertabrate is endemic in Turkey.

The endemism rate increases in plants. While whole Europe has 12500 plant species (Both Angiospermae and Gymnospermae), Turkey has 11000 plant species and one-third of them is endemic for Turkey.

Mount IDA

Mount Ida (Turkish: Kazdağı, pronounced [kazdaːɯ], meaning "Goose Mountain", Kaz Dağları, or Karataş Tepesi) is a mountain in northwestern Turkey, southeast of the ruins of Troy, along the north coast of the Gulf of Edremit. The name Mount Ida is the ancient one.

Geography of Mount IDA

Mount Ida is lightly populated upland massif of about 700 km² located to the north of Edremit. A number of small villages in the region are connected by paths. Drainage is mainly to the south, into the Gulf of Edremit, also known as Edremit Bay, where the coast is rugged and is known as "the Olive Riviera.". However, the Karamenderes River (the ancient Scamander) flows from the other side of Mount Ida to the west. Its valley under Kaz Dağları has been called "the Vale of Troy" by English speakers. Currently a modest 2.4 km² of Mount Ida are protected by Kaz Dağı National Park, created in 1993.

The summit is windswept and bare with a relatively low tree line due to exposure, but the slopes of this mountain, at the edge of mild Mediterranean and colder central Anatolian climate zones, hold a wealth of endemic flora, marooned here after the Ice Age. The climate at lower altitudes has become increasingly hot and dry in the deforested landscape. The dry period lasts from May to October. Rainfall averages between 631 and 733 mm per year. The mean annual temperature is 15.7 degrees Celsius, with diurnal temperatures as high as 43.7 degrees Celsius in Edremit. The forests on the upper slopes consist mainly of Turkish Fir (Abies nordmanniana subsp. equi-trojani; considered by some botanists to be a distinct species Abies equi-trojani) (2).

Map of Mount IDA (2).

Biodiversity of Mount IDA

Mount IDA is an important area with 32 endemic plant species, such as Abies nordmanniana subsp. equi-trojana, Hypericum kazdaghensis, Digitalis trojana, Astragalus idea, Ferulago idaea, Galium trojanum and Sideritis trojana.

And also Mount IDA has many predatory and forest birds such as Sitta krueperi, Aquila chrysaetos and Falco peregrinus. Mount IDA also has Rhinolophus mehelyi, Myotis cappaccinii and Myotis emarginatus bat species which are globally important. Capoeta bergamae is also globally endangered inland water fish which lives in Mount IDA.

Mount Ida, both have excellent habitat areas, and hosted numerous flora and fauna richness one of the most important (maybe the most) biodiversity hotpoint in Europe. Protecting this area is the duty of all of us.

            Kaan HÜRKAN, M.Sc.

                                                                    Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University

                                                                              Biology Department

  

References

(1) http://www.eoearth.org/article/Biodiversity?topic=49480

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Ida_(Turkey)#cite_note-0

3 Mayıs 2009 tarihinde, DHA muhabiri Burak GEZEN ile yaptığımız, Milliyet ve Radikal gazetelerinde yer alan röportaj

"Lütfen bulduğunuz gibi bırakın!"

 Orkide ÇOMÜ’den Kaan Hürkan’ın tez konusuydu. Hürkan her yıl salep ve şifa için 80 milyon kök orkidenin söküldüğünü söyledi.

03/05/2009

BURAK GEZEN

    ÇANAKKALE - ‘Kazdağlarındaki 38 orkide türü, salebin hammadmesi ve birçok hastalığa şifa olduğu için tehlike altında’. 

Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi (ÇOMÜ) Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Biyoloji Bölümü Yüksek Lisans Öğrencisi Kaan Hürkan, tez çalışması kapsamında, Kazdağlarındaki orkide türü sayısının 38’e ulaştığını belirledi. Hürkan’ın ikinci tespitiyse bu türlerin aşırı söküm nedeniyle yok olma tehdidi altında olmasıydı. 

Orkide (Orchidaceae) dünyanın en çok tür içeren familyalarından. 

Sadece Çanakkale’nin Çan ilçesi sınırlarında kalan bölgede 17 orkide türünün varlığını ortaya çıkardıklarını anlatan Kaan Hürkan şu bilgileri verdi: 

“Orkide bitkileri, estetik güzelliklerinin yanı sıra salepin hammaddesi. Orkide yumrularında yüzde 11- 44 glikomannan, yüzde 8-19 nişasta, yüzde 1-4 şekerler, yüzde 0.5-1.5 azotlu maddeler, yüzde 2-10 kül ve yüzde 8-12 su bulunur. Glikomannan ve nişasta su tutma özelliğine sahip olduğundan Maraş dondurmasında kıvam artırıcı olarak kullanılır. Ayrıca vücudu sıcak tutma, soğuk algınlığı ve öksürüğe karşı etkileri halk arasında çok eski dönemlerden beri bilinir.”

Hürkan’a göre orkidelerin geleceği de tehdit altında: 

“Ülkemizde her yıl ortalama 80 milyon orkide yumrusu topraktan sökülüyor. Bir orkide bitkisinin tohum safhasından, yeni bir bitki verinceye kadar geçen süre asgari dört yıl. Bunun nedeni, orkide tohumlarının çimlenebilmesi için mikorizaya (Rhizoctonia cinsine ait bir mantar tarafından enfekte edilme durumu) bağımlı olmasıdır. Bu kadar özel şartlarda ve uzun sürede gelişen bu bitkilerin yumruları bilinçsizce topraktan sökülerek yok edilmektedir. Kimseyi salep içme keyfinden mahrum bırakamayız, fakat orkide yumrularını toplarken bir sonraki sene bu bitkiyi yerinde görmek istiyorsak, eski yumruyu alıp, yeni yumruyu yerinde bırakmaya kesinlikle dikkat etmeliyiz. Ayrıca bu bitkilerin yumrularının ihracatı Tarım Bakanlığı tarafından yasaklanmıştır. Doğal kaynakları yok etmeden sürdürülebilir bir şekilde kullanmak, doğanın kendine özel dengesini bozmamak ve bu güzellikleri sonraki nesillere taşımak hepimizin en temel görevlerindendir.”

Gazetelerde yer alan orijinal kaynaklar:

Radikal Gazetesi versiyonu

Milliyet Gazetesi versiyonu