Jocelyn Ho and her team at the Rare Plant Fairy in Detroit care for thousands of different exotic plants. However, their latest mission has them trying to clone a rare flowering plant.
"This one we won an award for. We named it the Philodendron Belle Isle," said Ho, referring to the nearly extinct ghost orchid.
"We’ve been working on these ghost orchids for about two years," lab director Deb Sweeney said.
"It’s a plant that is very well known in pop culture," Ho added.
There are books and movies all about the ghost orchids, which are named for their white, delicate flower. They are native to the Everglades — with people traveling from across the world hoping to find one.
To clone, or propagate the ghost orchids, Sweeney puts pieces of the plant into a pink jelly goo full of nutrients called synthetic media.
After a few years, they grow into the baby roots the team has now.
Ho said that their baby roots now need to be "hardened out" and planted in soil. In a few years, under very specific conditions, Ho says that the cloned ghost orchids will bloom in the lab.
"Us humans, we’ve done so much harm in the world," said Ho. "This is my little way of trying to help that."
For all of the rare plant lovers out there, Ho also said that their potted ghost orchids will most likely be available for sale in about a year.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Detroit.
