Paphiopedilum (Lady's Slipper Orchid) is in the Orchidaceae family and Cypripedioideae subfamily with four genera: Paphiopedilum, Cypripedium, Phragmipedium, and Selenipedium. The flowers and their colors are special and varied, and are an important part of the orchid family. The Paphiopedilum has the most variety, and is the best choice for commercial cultivation.

Artificially cultivated Paphiopedilum has been exported from Taiwan since 2000, with an annual export value of between NT$20 and NT$30 million. The primary destinations include the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, China, and Europe. Nowadays the orchid still could not be mass propagated by the mericlone culture method , and therefore Paphiopedilum has not been able to develope into a large industry. We have engaged in research since 2007 in an effort to overcome this problem and advance the development of the Paphiopedilum industry.

Before 2010, researches focusing on seedlings indicated that 「stem base」 can induce more adventitious shoots while comparing 「stem base」 and 「shoot tip」 out of four commercial varieties (PA5909, PA6045, PA6166, PA6291) in their adventitious shoot induction , and low lighting produced better results than that of darkness Since 2010, we have engaged in the research that used the blooming Maudiae type, which is commercially available, to study the effects of using different cultivars, explants, medium, excised leaves, explant sizes, and plant growth regulator on inducing buds and multiplication performance. Our study also selected individual with high multiplication rates. They offered the best shoot induction when 1/4MS and 3mg/L BA were applied. Furthermore, peptone, yeast extract, and excising leaves increased bud multiplication by two to three times. Still, Paphiopedilum faces differences in high contamination rates, high browning rates, low multiplication rates, genus differences, and difficulties in getting explant. We will continue to research to overcome the bottlenecks of quantity production.

The effects of excising leaves on the multiplication of the 「Magic」

(Left: non-excised leaves, Right: excised leaves ； A:1/4MS;B:1/4MS+3mg/L-1 ）

Bud growth of Red Apple (left) and Magic (right) on 1/4 MS + BA 3mgL^-1