Select Clones Available

Education

Ecuagenera has founded a private school located just outside of the town of Gualaceo. The school is called the Liceo Particular Bilingüe Nuevo Mundo, which roughly translates to The New World Institute. The name was chosen because a new world of challenges has been brought to us in the second millennium.

Within Ecuador, there is a great need for the expansion and improvement of available educational services. Sadly, public education for the youth of the country has been substandard for a long time. We at Ecuagenera have children of our own and felt that we needed to do something to change this situation. As such, The New World Institute was born. We have taken it upon ourselves to provide this education for able and gifted young Ecuadorians in a modern, high level facility, staffed by professionals. Some examples of service improvement include having a licensed dietician to manage the kitchen and cafeteria and state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment for language labs and computer instruction.

A further goal of The Institute and one of the driving reasons for its founding, is to offer a high quality education to everyone, regardless of the affluence or cultural ?status? of their parents. Children from all walks of life attend The Institute. Those from families with limited resources - who are selected for their ability, not their income or social standing - receive scholarships in proportion to their family?s financial resources.

Classes are given to students ranging from pre-school (about age four), through the completion of high school, or collegio, as it is known here (about age seventeen). Instruction takes place in 21 classrooms, each with the capacity for 30 students. That means when full, we?re teaching 630 students. The Institute is accessed by a private drive from the main two-lane highway between Gualaceo and Cuenca. We are hoping to construct a pedestrian bridge to further ensure safe crossing, but speed bumps installed by the city have helped in the mean time.

We are different from other schools in a variety of ways, but there are a few that stand out. First, students may work for the school or the orchid nursery if they would like to gain practical work experience, or to earn a wage and/or reduction in their tuition. The participation in our plantation teaches them first-hand, the principles of horticulture, botany, biology, and other agricultural areas, as well as the value of honest work, apart from class and lab. We have a computer lab with one computer terminal for each student in class. The teachers are in charge of their own internet, local area network, or LAN, library and will soon have the ability to deliver all of their lessons via LAN. The curriculum consists of a full range of classes including the arts (music, drawing, chorus), mathematics, computer science, geography and geology, social sciences, health, family economics, athletics, physical and life sciences, economics and politics, history (world, national, and local), and of course language ? English and Spanish. Because our staff is professional and quite exceptional teachers, The Institute has gained accreditation into Ecuador?s nationally recognized, licensed educational system.

Our Orchid Reserves

What's an orchid reserve?
Our reserves consist of two huge tracts of high mountain jungle, one somewhat lower in elevation than the other. These two distinctly different habitats are only about an hour away from each other. We could not have found more optimum localities for our reserves. The two reserves differ in climate and elevation and this provides the best of both worlds as far as orchid habitats. Between them both, you can "see it all", "do it all".

The nice thing is that what you see and photograph in the wild in the reserves you can purchase in our nursery and take home with you, fully documented, packaged for travel, all legal and easy.

These two private jungle orchid reserves provide us with protected property which we also include as part of our "orchid tours". Why protected? Before we owned the two reserves, we'd transplant orchids back into the wild from our nursery to enrich the species count for all to enjoy. But when we'd return we'd find the sites stripped of our transplants by unscrupulous orchid vendors who steal from nature, then sell the same plants. So now our transplants are guarded and are there for the world to enjoy.

Orchid tours here!
Ecuagenera Co. Ltd. is pleased to offer orchid tours throughout Ecuador as well as in our two collosal private reserves not far from Cuenca. Tours of up to 16 days can be scheduled. If you only have a couple days, our reserves alone serve well. On these tours you walk amongst orchid and flower habitats and take in impressive views of spectacular Andes and jungle panoramas. We guarantee you will enjoy the wild orchids to the max as well as the wide diversity of plants, how they actually grow and the natural environment. Hundreds of species of other flowers, butterflies, birds and fauna in general complement the lush orchid habitat.

How is the species count in the reserves?
In a word, excellent. These two new high jungle reserves we purchased are naturally stocked with orchids from Mother Nature. In addition we transplant (only Ecuadorian) orchid species specific to that climate to preserve them and make a botanical garden out of the reserves themselves. The habitats are perfect for transplanting orchids from our laboratory to enhance the species count which is now at over 1,000. You wouldn't believe the rich orchid environment perfect for photography and a breathtaking tour of the high Andes jungles.

What's this about transplanting? On our two reserves our staff and volunteers, like you, transplant orchids every week. As time goes on, the reserve complex will be a living botanical garden of most if not all of Ecuador's orchid species. As it is now, Ecuagenera's reserves are indeed the largest orchid reserves in the entire world. They are 100% private and you can enter them! You can volunteer to help us transplant, that way you get a hands on experience in real jungle under the expert guidance of our staff. Also you can feel proud in the fact you helped preserve for future generations to enjoy, this incredible family of flowering plants, the orchid.

Tell me more about the reserves! Can I sleep there maybe?
For convenience of our visitors, we plan to outfit the reserves with small unobtrusive bungalows in which to lodge, a restaurant and other ammenities. Our future facilities will allow you to live for a few days in the utmost tranquility of Ecuador's high jungles enjoying the night sounds from wildlife, smelling the sweet scent of the jungle itself. You will awake to bird songs and of course, gallons of fresh Ecuadorian coffee and hot chocolate and a hearty breakfast to stick to your ribs for a day's tour in the jungle.

As it stands now, we base our orchid tours out of our complex at the orchid ranch and offices in Gualaceo. The tours come complete with restaurant and lodging. Now we have the addition of our jungle complex described above.

To view photos and more information on each of the reserves please click on the links below. We will be adding to this page profusely, it's an honor to now offer this "pride and joy" asset to the world.

Hybrids Gallery

Some of the species may not be flowered

Our History

Ecuagenera was launched 50 years ago with the arrival of the Catholic priest, Father Angel Andreetta, (at right, recent, 83 years) in the Bomboiza sector in the village of Gualaquiza (Wal-la-kee' sah), in the eastern province of Morona Santiago.  In Bomboiza, a place privileged for its abundance of gold deposits and flora orchidacea,  Andreetta began the process of researching, selecting and collecting orchid species, making him a pioneer of orchid collection in the region.  As a result of his work, in 1968 it was possible for Ecuador to participate for the first time in a world exposition of orchids in Colombia.

Wanting his work to continue, Andreetta found help from a young man who demonstrated a real love for nature: Mario Portilla, who would become his main ally for many years. Later, Andreetta continued his work of orchid collection in the hacienda Yumacay in Paute.

Meanwhile, they felt the need to build a business that would be dedicated to the conservation and marketing of orchids.  In 1991 José Portilla, Mario?s younger brother, appeared on the scene.  Jose demonstrated a deep interest in this work and was invited to participate in the business.

February 1992 marked the beginning of the new business, which by May of the same year was legally recognized under the name Géneros Ecuatorianos Ecuagenera CIA, TDA. The Portilla brothers were the founding members and Andreetta was their adviser.  It was this organization which took charge of the preservation of Andreetta?s orchid collection.  To this day, this collection is carefully preserved in an effort to support the maintenance and reproduction of various species.

By 1993 Ecuagenera became the first Ecuadorian business to obtain legal permission to export orchids through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Since its founding, Ecuagenera has established itself as a business leader in the research, preservation, and conservation of the flora orquidacea of Ecuador.  Now, Ecuagenera is the largest orchid exporter in Ecuador and one of the largest in all the Americas.

Select clones Cattleya maxima

Select clones Cattleyas trianaei

Tropical Plants

Welcome to the tropical plants section of the Ecuagenera webpage. We are working hard to get this page up to date and correctly identify and organize the beautiful non-orchid tropicals we have available. We appreciate your patience as we continue updating this section. Please note that we have several plants named followed by a number. This is to indicate that we believe the plant to be similar to the name given, but are not sure if it is in fact that plant. For example you will see Anthurium marmoranthum 1-7. We know there are not 7 different marmoranthums, but we're not sure which of these is in fact marmoranthum, and if not, what in fact they are.

All about Ecuador

 In this space you will find picture that show to you the beauty of the country, during our tours you can see mostly of them

Volcano Tungurahua

Volcano Chimborazo

Equator

Ingapirca

Ecuadorian market

 Orchids Habitad

Cattleya maxima

Epidendrum purum

Maxillaria pseudorechenheimiana

Epidendrum medusa

Rodriguezia lanceolata

Schomburgkia splendida

Trichocentrum nanum

Animals

Barn Owl tyto alba

Hummingbird

Bothrops

 Frog

Epipitabates tricolor

Lizzart

Visitors Gallery

Download Price List 2010

DOWNLOAD ECUAGENERA PRICE LIST Be sure to check out all the phrags we have available. This pricelist is meant to supercede previous pricelists. If there is a conflict between a price listed on the species pages and the pricelist, please send an email to sales@ecuagenera.com

Orchids Cut flowers