Among the roses and tulips at the Philadelphia International Flower Show is something one might not expect to see: a laboratory. The microscope and fume hood pay homage to the French flower growers Vacherot and Lecoufle, the first to set up a commercial orchid cloning operation.
New Jersey orchid grower Walter Off's uncle went to the French laboratories in the 1960s to learn the science of orchid cloning, which, according to Off, put the exotic flower within reach of the average buyer.
"We've often said that cloning revolutionized the entire orchid industry,” Off said. “They became available to the blue-collar person, and not just kings and queens."
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