Taiwan Pleione Nature Reserve

Information

Date of Proclamation	March 12, 1992
Size of Area (ha)	51.89
Primary Object for Protection	Ecosystem of Taiwan Pleione
Scope of Administration	Alishan [Ah-Li Mountain] Village – Chiayi County
Authority in-charge-of	Chiayi Forest District Office

 

Pleione formosana is one of the most famous wild orchids in Taiwan and was first documented in 1909 on Alishan, or Mount Ali. As an epiphyte mainly distributed in low-altitude misty evergreen broad-leaf forests and cypress forests, it grows near the tree line and/or on exposed vertical rock walls with many symbiotic plants, such as bryophytes, Astilbe chinensis, and Diversifolious Hemiphragma. To protect the Pleione formosana population from shrinking and even extinction in the face of invasive species and collection by people, the Taiwan Pleione Nature Reserve was established to preserve the germplasm. Nowadays this elegant flowering plant favored by many horticulturists and orchid lovers can be reproduced by tissue culture and even sold overseas in large quantities. Still many of them thrive on the mountain walls like little purple butterflies.