Orchid News # 34

XIX WOC

THE WORLD ORCHID CONFERENCE

The World Orchid Conference (WOC) takes place every third year, each time in a different city, on a different continent or a different hemisphere, hosted and organized by local, regional or national orchid groups and planned in conjunction with the WOC Trust formed by the American Orchid Society (AOS), Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and by Apple by Trust (Bermuda) Limited, Bermuda. There is no interruption since the first one in St. Louis, Missouri, USA in 1954, then in Honolulu, London, Singapore, Long Beach, Sydney, Medellin, Frankfurt, Bangkok, Durban, Miami, Tokyo, Auckland, Glasgow, Rio de Janeiro, Vancouver, Shah Alam (Malaysia), Dijon (France) and Miami (USA).
The 20th will be held in Singapore in September 2011 and the 21th in South Africa, in 2014.
The Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society and South Florida Orchid Society were the co-hosts of the 19th World Orchid Conference & Show Orchids which was held from January 23 to 27th 2008, in Miami, Florida (USA).
The 19th WOC had Robert Fuchs as the President and Co-Chairman and Col. Kenneth Kone as Vice President and Co-Chairman. The theme was "Orchids - Nature's Masterpiece. 2.000 people attended the opening night.
The program of lectures was intense and 72 world-renowned speakers and expert orchidists coming from around the world presented lectures concerning many scientific subjects, horticultural and conservation.
Brazil was represented by Delfina de Araujo, in the section horticulture approaching "The genus Oncidium in Brazil and its natural and artificial hybrids" in the scientific field by Cassio van den Berg (Phylogeny and Classification of Cattleya and Sophronitis), Francisco Miranda (The Genus Hoffmannseggella), in Conservation by Lou Menezes (Conservation of the Cattleya walkeriana and C. nobilior in their habitats), Luiz Hamilton's (Bifoliate Cattleyas and their conservation) and Cesar Wenzel (The role of hybridization in the improvement and conservation of orchids). Besides 36 Posters were presented.
Nearly 200 exhibitors (nurseries, orchid societies, individual exhibitors, non-orchids vendors, cientific institutions) were present coming from USA and 40 countries such as South Africa (South Africa Orchid Council), Brazil (Eco Orquídeas, Floralia and Wenzel Orchids), Colombia (Orquideas de Colombia Villa Andrea), Ecuador, England (Orchid Society of Great Britain), Holland (Knop Dutch Orchid Producers), Japan (Nagoya International Orchid Show Committee), England (Royal Horticultural Society ) and Singapore (Singapore Botanical Garden), Thailand (Department of Agricultural Extension), Taiwan, Venezuela and, of course, many American orchid societies and individual
Orchid-related exhibitions and competitions were available such us Art, Photography, Cake decoration, Quilt, Flower Arranging and Ikebana.
In this special edition of Orchid News, we intend to give a vision, even though superficial, of what this Congress and the Show were. Here you will find some abstract of the lectures and a few interviews, besides more than 300 photos
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