Phrag popowii in the wild??

[Drorchid]

I am preparing a talk for next week at the Paph Guild about the long petaled Phrag species, so I was doing some research and found it curious that there is very little information available and absolutely no pictures that I saw on the internet of the Central American species Phrag popowii (aka Phrag. warszewiczii) in the wild, even though supposedly it is native to Guatemala, Belize, San Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.

Has anyone ever seen it in the wild, or know of any in-situ pictures, and what is the status of this species, it is very common, or near extinct?

Robert

 

[slippertalker]

Those are interesting questions, and the best answer would come from an expert native to that area. My guess is that even though it seems to come from quite diverse locations in Central America, it is probably overcollected in nature with pockets of populations remaining. Much of Guatemala was deforested over the last century eliminating much of the local flora and fauna.