Chester Zoo has one of the largest orchid collections on public display in North West England. They are the joint holder of the Plant Heritage National Collection of the Pleurothallidinae, first started in the early 1990s by Steve Manning, a private orchid grower from Nantwich, Cheshire.

Today they have more than 1,500 of these truly special plants, originating from South America, where many are now threatened with extinction in the wild. Their collection helps safeguard this species from being wiped out altogether.

The Pleurothallidinae are a neotropical subtribe of plants of the orchid family including 29 genera in more than 4000 species. Naturally occurring species of this subtribe are among the more popular orchids of horticulturalists, especially the genera Dracula, Dryadella, Masdevallia and Restrepia.

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