Prasophyllum and its associated mycorrhizal fungi

Abstract

In Victoria, there are over 330 taxa of orchid and at least half of those are threatened. The potential extinction of many of these orchids is largely due to habitat destruction caused by degradation from agri- culture, industrial development and urbanisation. Effective conservation ultimately depends on the rein- troduction to field sites to reinforce depleted popula- tions. For terrestrial orchids, seed germination is the preferred method of propagation as it allows genetic variability to be maintained (Batty et al. 2006).