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With 116 native species, Florida is the nation's orchid hotbed. But development and poaching are putting the pinch on wild orchids, especially around Naples, on the southwest coast. All 43 of the region's orchid species are on the state's endangered or threatened species list. Researchers say the problems include pesticides, loss of habitat, and the fact that some orchid colonies have grown too small to attract pollinators.

Now scientists and private collectors are hoping to reverse the orchid decline with the Native Orchid Restoration Project. Funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and private donations, it cost $250,000 to set up and will need $150,000 a year.

Scientists are preparing to culture rare blooms, from the delicate, leafless white ghost orchid (see above) to the speckled and sprawling cigar orchid, which will then be transplanted to Florida's forests and swamps. They are also studying how the environment, especially different types of fungi and pollinators, affects orchids' propagation and growth. One goal is to make them more efficient at spreading themselves around: Wild orchids may produce up to a million seed pods, but only a few may survive, says Lee Hoffman of the Naples Orchid Society, who is president of the restoration project.

Researchers will grow orchids in new labs and greenhouses that are being set up in the Naples area at Caribbean Gardens, a zoo, and the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. Those raised at the refuge are to repopulate the wild; the zoo blooms will be sold to help finance the project. Making the plants readily available to the public also is intended to cut down on theft. "It's not a question of if it's rare," says Hoffman. "If it's an orchid, people will poach them."