Appendicula fasciculata

While large parts of Irian Jaya remain pristine (80%) and the human population is small (1.6 million in 1992), there is increasing pressure on species from agriculture, and timber and mineral extraction (WWF 1992). One in three plants in Irian Jaya is an orchid, according to the WWF (1992).

Forest cover was estimated at 75% in 1998-99 by the Irian Jaya department of tourism, with a human population of 2.2 million. There is a threat from forest products exploitation (Marshall 1989). Copper mining is present in Central and Southern Irian, and petroleum exploitation in the West and North (Sorong and Mamberamo [part of the Mamberamo-Foja National Park]) and Nikel mining activities in Waegeo, Sorong, (Irian Jaya Department of Tourism 1999). Political turbulance and uncertainty in Irian Jaya/Papua is likely to make the task of species and habitat conservation more complex (BCI 2000).

The 1913 collection appears to have been made in what is now the Mamberamo-Foja National Park in Northern Irian Jaya which is part of the Foja-Gauttier Mountain complex (2,193 m). This area consists of over 728,000 ha of wetlands in an area of 1,442,500 ha (Silvius 2006).